Misunderstanding Mistakes
by KeiraCassidy
Summary: Mary is called in for a special undercover mission, a favor asked by none other than Allison. The mission? Find Allison Pearson's son after he runs away. After the messy speech Marshall feels hurt when Mary runs from him, but finds an interesting redhead to keep him busy. Post A Priest walks into a bar...(Disclaimer: I don't own In Plain Sight) Mary/Marshall romance, I promise.
1. Chapter 1

**This was _supposed _to be a One shot...post a priest walks into a bar...I know I'm supposed to finish "Disappeared" (can't even promise to end the story before my trip, sorry :/), but I can't concentrate because of this story.**

* * *

_"…You don't need to let off steam. What you need is... I get that you don't like messy. But maybe messy is what you need. Maybe instead of just anyone, you should be looking for someone. Someone who challenges you…"_

"Damn it, Marshall!" she thought as she sat in the airport waiting for her flight to be called. She couldn't believe he had called her on it, called her on her BS for claiming to wanting to ride a cowboy. She was just letting out steam, not really wanting to ride a stranger anymore. _But nooo, you couldn't keep your trap shut, Shannon!_

Now here she was, running on a vacation she really didn't plan, but decided to go because she wanted to take some time away from Jinx and Brandi. And Marshall had become part of the mix of people to run away from just because he spoke those words. She groaned as she leaned her elbows on her thighs, she looked down at her well worn jeans and the blue sandals on her feet. _No reason to wear shoes when she was going to a beach resort,_ she thought.

Shaking her head, Mary sat back on the seat and pulled out her blackberry, checking her emails as she waited for her flight. After a few minutes, she thrust the cell phone back into her jacket, she never travelled without her trusty jacket.

"We are now boarding flight 439 to Cancun, Mexico, boarding at gate A28. Please make sure…," came the prompt over the speaker at the ABQ International Airport.

Mary stood up when she heard her flight being called, she hadn't taken three steps when her cell phone went off in her jacket. She groaned and pulled the blackberry out, wishing it wasn't a work emergency. It had taken her a few weeks to finally make up her mind.

"This is Mary," she growled into the cell phone.

There was silence for a few seconds, Mary started to get annoyed and she was about to let the caller know when, "Inspector Shannon?"

Looking around to see if someone was playing a prank on her, she replied, "The one and only."

"This is Allison Pearson," came the voice of doom.

She stepped back a few feet and flopped down on her vacant seat, asking resentfully, "What can I do for you?"

Mary knew that her vacation was over way before it even started. She was interested in what Allison had to say. So she waited to hear what the other woman wanted from her.

"I have an understanding you are on vacation?" Allison asked skeptically.

She narrowed her eyes, opening and closing her mouth in outrage, when she finally found her voice she muttered, "Yeah, I have an _understanding_ that it was forced on me."

"Yes, you're right. I was…Can you meet with me? This is...personal," Allison sounded hesitant, very unlike what Mary knew to be true.

"Where are you?" Mary asked impatiently.

"I'm in...your plane ticket has changed course, go to the counter and request your new boarding pass. Hurry, the plane is going to take off in 15 minutes," she urged with a pleading voice, Mary never thought she would hear the woman sound so weak.

"Fine, I'll see you when I arrive," Mary hung up the phone and hurriedly walked to the nearest counter and requested her new boarding pass. She read her destination and cursed under her breath as she ran towards the other side of the airport, she made it just in time to stop the stewardess from closing the door to the plane.

"Sorry, I was on the wrong side of the airport," she sheepishly smiled at the stewardess. The woman took her boarding pass and let her through the door before closing it behind her, Mary walked into the plane and found her seat, throwing her carry-on into the only available slot.

* * *

"This is Marshall," he said into the office phone, looking around at everyone, but not really seeing any of them. He closed his eyes and sat back as he waited for the other person to speak.

There was a bit of shuffling on the other side of the phone then, "Inspector Mann, it's Faber. Mike Faber. Is Mary around?"

"Uh, no, she...isn't available at the moment, anything I can assist you with?" Marshall's curiousity was now piqued.

"No, not really. I'm supposed to meet her, I just wasn't sure if we were meeting at the office or the airport," came from Faber's all too knowing voice.

Marshall sat up and frowned, he looked over at his partner's desk and his heart sank all the way to his toes. His speech fresh in his mind, he swallowed around the acid and replied nonchalantly, "Sorry, can't help you with that. Mary is a one-track mind. You'll just have to figure it out. Good-bye Faber."

It took incredible strength not to slam the phone down, but he set it on its cradle and stood up, "Going on witness visits!"

By the time Stan came out, Marshall was in the elevator and the doors were closing.

* * *

A month later...

The stench of the bar she was in was so stagnant she felt bile rise, she had to swallow down hard to keep from puking all over the sticky floor. She was sure the stench was from that same floor, ignoring the floor when someone whistled a catcall, she looked up to meet a dark gaze looking back at her. He was a tall muscular dark man, she could easily guess that he was of mixed race. Maybe black with some white in him, she stared back at him, before looking down and away.

Mary had flown to Nowhere, Indiana to meet with Allison, something that had made her uneasy when the flight attendant announced her destination, knowing that her flight would take off within minutes, she didn't even pay attention to the destination. She had almost ran off the plane, but curiosity prevailed.

Allison had asked Mary to track down her teenage son, but with one catch, she couldn't tell Marshall and definitely couldn't tell Stan. Her son, Payton, had ran away a few weeks prior to the call Allison made to Mary, all she knew was that Payton had taken off with a buddy of his. An older guy from the wrong side of the tracks, a guy that was known for selling drugs to teenagers.

That got Mary hooked, anything to get that type of delinquent off the street and away from the good kid Allison claimed her son to be. He had just began to rebel against her for divorcing his father. Mary didn't ask about the divorce, the less she knew the better she could work to get the kid back home.

After literally travelling up and down the United States, she finally tracked the kid down in New Orleans, Louisiana, capital of the shirtless-beads. She had never been there before, not even in her wild days.

Now, here she was standing in a hell hole, with a guy staring at her, checking her out. Walking to the bar, she sat on a bar stool calling for the bartender, "Get me a beer."

"Anything in particular beautiful?" the heavy black man with arm tattoos asked her with a wink.

Mary smiled crookedly at him and said, "Draft will be fine."

He stalked off and came back with a glass of beer, foaming at the top. She managed to look at the man with the dark eyes through the corner of her eye, he was staring intently at her. He was still checking her out, which made her skin crawl. At moments like these, which had happened for the past month, at every bar she had been throughout the month, she had wanted to reach out to Marshall and have him help her find the kid, but the promise she made Allison kept her quiet.

She pulled out her cell phone and sighed sadly, Marshall hadn't contact her since she had left him in the office after the speech he gave her. She felt guilty for running away from him, but the risk of losing him had prevented her from reciprocating. After their shared _almost_ kiss at Trenna's bachelorette party, she hadn't been able to get the _almost _kiss out of her mind.

Mary pulled the glass to her lips and took a deep drink of beer, feeling refreshed after being out in the hot sun most of the day. She had gone into several bars that day, until she found him.

Looking around the bar casually, like a tourist without showing her true profession, she turned back to the man staring at her and stared back at him. As far as what she had found out from many of the guys she had questioned, he fit the profile of the guy that would know where the moron that took Payton was.

They had finally supplied the name of Payton's 'friend', it had only taken a few broken noses, a Michael Hurst aka Hurts, a nickname he had earned for hurting teenagers that didn't want to sell his drugs. Word was that Hurts was supposed to be meeting this man, her informant had given her the location after she broke his nose, if he was wrong, she would break his arm when she found him.

Mary took her beer and sauntered over to his table, he continued to stare at her, she came up to the table and pulled out a chair, she sat and crossed her leg over the other, setting her beer on the small table.

He arched an eyebrow at her boldness, "I don't recall inviting you to sit."

She grinned at him, "Are you sure? Because I'm sure that your eyes were calling to me."

He frowned at her audacity and leaned forward growling, "I suggest you get your pretty ass up and move back to the counter."

"What if I refuse? huh?" she asked challengingly, arching an eyebrow at him, smirk in place as she took a gulp of beer.

The man stood up, he was at least six feet five inches tall, three hundred pounds of pure muscle, he muttered, "I'm sure I can manage to move you there with no problem."

She leaned back on the chair, arched an eyebrow and smirked up at him, "You and what army, buddy?"

The man stalked around the small table and was about to reach down to grab her arm, but she didn't give him the chance to touch her, she kicked his knee in with all her force, causing her ankle to twist in a weird angle. _That's gonna bruise, jackass!_ she thought, as she saw the man flail onto his back. He hit the floor with a thick thud and a loud groan, he rolled, but Mary was too quick and with much more fighting experience, she straddled the man and held him down.

Mary lifted her hand up to stop the bartender without looking at him, she had seen him move towards them through the corner of her eye, he stood in place behind the counter. The man below her growled sideway at her, "I'm gonna fucking kill you, you bitch!"

"Huh...and here I thought we were becoming fast friends," she chuckled down at him. Looking around to make sure most of the other patrons were still sitting on their seats, she grabbed his thick arm and twisted the arm up his shoulder blades forcibly, "Now, here's where you and I become best-friends. As you can see, I have the upper hand, you can kill me later, but first you would have to get in line."

"Get the fuck off me you stupid whore!" he bellowed.

"Nuh-uh-uh, I make all the rules here jackass," she sing-sang on a growl back down to him, she was leaning closer to his head, saying forcefully, "Now, where were we? Oh, yea...Where the hell is Hurts?"

The man below tensed under her and then all hell broke loose when he started to wiggle and buck under her, she pressed his hand higher up his shoulder blades, causing him to growl in pain, "You fucking slut!"

"Let him up!" came from behind her a second before she felt a kick to her ribs.

* * *

**TBC**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks for the review!**

* * *

Mary rolled away holding onto her ribs on her right side. She gasped in for breathes as she looked at the two men staring down at her. _Shit, what the hell's wrong with you, you're supposed to have eyes behind your head Shannon! _she thought through the pain, vision slightly blurred.

She could sense more than see most of the patrons start to move towards the exit, which she was glad of, letting go of her bruised, if not broken ribs with a moan. Mary noticed that neither of the men carried a weapon, she was glad for that, the minute both men turned to look at each other, she could only guess they wanted to plan against her. She reached around to the other side of her ribs and felt the cold metal of the Glock on her holster. Pulling it out with a grunt she pointed the gun to the men.

They turned as they heard her sit up with a muffled groan, their eyebrows rose in surprise at the weapon, she clenched her teeth against the pain and growled low, "Where the fuck is Payton?"

Michael Hurst aka Hurts looked at her in shock, "I don't know any Payton!"

Mary knew she had the upper hand and when the bigger dark man tried to lunge at her she took a shot, shooting him on the thigh. He collapsed in a heap of muscles with a painful moan. _Fuck, this is definitely not going as planned._

Allison had given her the clearance to do whatever she could to bring her son back, and as much as Mary hated to fire her weapon and would like to kill Hurts for the kick to her ribs, she needed the fuckwad to get the kid, looking back at him, she noted the color had drained from his face, "Now, let's try this again. Where the _fuck _is Payton?"

"What do you want with the kid?" he asked nervously looking down at the dark man.

"Oh, now you know who I'm talking about, huh?" she grinned evilly at him, a grin she knew would look more like her baring her teeth like a rabid dog.

"Look, I didn't _kidnap _the kid, he willingly left with me," he looked around the bar, trying to find someone to help him. But most of the patrons had already left and the ones still behind continued to drink and go on with business as usual, even the bartender paid them no mind. The fact that the big bulky man was still laying on the floor with blood pooling around his thigh, didn't faze them, no one made a mood towards them. She could only imagine how many times this scene had played in the bar.

She looked around without really taking her eyes away from Hurts, "Take off your damn fucking belt and give it to the jackass on the floor, he's going to fucking bleed to death."

_Damn, I'm really taking this role too seriously, but if it gets me Payton and my ass back home, so be it, _she thought as she inwardly cursed that she had agreed to such a dangerous situation, knowing full well she had taken it so she could forget about the speech. _Damn it, Marshall! You and your big damn mouth!_

Hurts looked at her and followed her instructions, as she knew he would, she had him exactly where she wanted him. He was running scared, he was just a big bully, even if he was mostly skin and bones. She was sure she had learned to fight from the other thugs around his neighborhood. From experience she knew that tall and lanky did _not _mean slow and weak. Her partner might be tall and lanky, but he had proved himself time and time again, he was a bad ass law man that could kick anyone's ass. _God, I miss that big Doofus._

The dark man took the belt and made a tourniquet to slow the bleeding, he looked up at her, his eyes had gone even darker, "You will die."

She smirked, "Yeah, I know, but before I do. Where the hell is Payton?"

Suddenly a kid walked into the bar, looking down at his cell phone, "Hey Hurts? I found it!"

Mary knew that it was Payton, inwardly sighing in relief, holding onto her ribs with her right hand and the gun on her left, she pointed the gun directly at Hurts and waved it to the left, "Move fuckwad!"

He moved to the left of the dark man with his hands raised in surrender, and she moved towards Payton, when the kid finally looked up, his eyes turned to saucers, she could tell he was about to run, she pointed the gun at him and snarled, "Run and you're dead!"

That caused Payton to freeze in mid turn, his voice trembled when he asked, "Wh-who are you?"

"I'm your worst nightmare kid," she said with a scowl.

Looking back at Hurts and the dark man she said, "Either of you move and the kid's dead."

Mary moved as fast as her injury could allow her to move, her breathing was becoming difficult. She was afraid that the cracked rib might've perforated her lung, grabbing the kid with the right arm around his neck she walked backwards to the exit. She wouldn't give the goons any chances to try something against her.

As soon as they stepped out into the dark she shoved the kid towards her car, "Move jackass!"

He moved still trembling, "Wh-who are you?"

"You'll know soon enough," she muttered as she pushed him into the car through the driver side, looking back to the bar entrance she saw Hurts run out.

She pointed the gun at him and growled, "You better not be around when I come back."

Jumping into the car Mary turned the car on and was glad she had backed into the space, with the limited use of her right side, she would've caused herself more pain trying to back out of the parking space.

She pulled her cell phone out of her jacket pocket and dialed, "Hey, I got him. I need assistance."

_"What happened? Is he hurt?" _Allison asked alarmed.

"No, I am," she muttered into the phone, keeping an eye on the scared Payton. Mary wasn't afraid the kid would jump out of the vehicle, she had child proofed the locks so only her door opened from the inside.

_"Are you going to be okay?" _she asked concerned.

"Look, where do you want to meet?" Mary asked frustrated, she wanted this job to be done with, "By the way, I shot someone."

There was a pause then, _"Was it lethal?"_

"No, shot him on the thigh," she said through clenched teeth.

She heard the sigh of relief, _"Was he there?"_

"No, he won't be tramatized until _after_ I get through to him," she warned looking sideways at him.

Payton began to cry into the window, Mary knew the kid would be afraid, from what she learned from Allison, he was a sweet kid. The fact that his parents were divorcing had probably hit him hard, causing him to act out in a rebelious way. Something that Mary thought of fixing before it became a bigger problem, she would scare him shitless.

_"Please, don't scare him. It's not his fault," _Allison advised, a slight tremble to her voice.

"Look, it's getting worst," she panted into the cell phone, praying that Payton didn't hear it.

_"Where are you?"_

"New Orleans, Louisiana," she corroborated.

_"I'm in DC, but I'm sure I have a few favors to ask, I'll call you back in a bit," _Allison assured her.

"Fine, but hurry," she hung up and pocketed the cell phone again, she turned to Payton and brusquedly said, "Turn off your damn cell phone if you don't want it to fly out this window."

Mary knew the risks of being tracked by cell phones and looked over to see Payton wipe his eyes with the sleeve of his hoodie. The phone turned off and he went to put it in his sweater but she snatched it from him, "Hey!"

She glared over at him, "Hey what?"

"N-nothing...wh-what do you want with me? W-what did I do?" he stuttered.

"Well, you'll just have to wait a little bit longer to find out," she advised on a snarl.

Mary had driven for about an hour before Allison called her back, "This is..." she trailed off, she didn't want to give the kid any names.

_"Okay, are you near Baton Rouge? If so, go to the airport strip, there you'll find a plane. They know where to transport you both,"_ Allison informed her.

"Yeah, I'm on my way there now, will probably get there in a few minutes," Mary told her as she continued to drive with a silent Payton beside her. She was glad she didn't have to backtrack to get to an airport.

She hung up, pushing her cell phone back into her jacket pocket, then moving her right hand over her ribs, for the past hour Mary had kept her breathing steady. Knew that she would make Payton get into that plane without her, she knew she couldn't get into the plane with the injury that she received.

After ten minutes she saw the signs for the detour into the airport, spotting the airplane on the strip almost immediately after she went through the gates. She had to flash her badge beside the car so that Payton wouldn't be aware of what she was. She drove into the airplane hanger and found two Marshals already waiting one on each side of the plane's door.

Mary got off the car with a muffled moan and held harder onto her side, "Hey, you two, come open the door for the damn kid."

The shorter of the two, a white slightly balding man hustled over and opened Payton's door. Pulling the kid out by the arm, he turned to Mary and asked, "Where are you taking me?"

"Get in the plane," she growled at him as she walked over to them.

The taller of the two Marshals, a hispanic man walked to her, a frown on his face, "What's wrong?"

"Get out of my way," she moved around him and pushed Payton towards the plane, as soon as the kid was safely tucked in it, she turned to leave, turning by the door, "Tell Allison I said hello."

His eyes widen before he tried to get up, but the short white man held him down by the shoulder, "You work for my mother!?"

"No, I don't, but fair warning, you pull this stunt again and next time you won't see your mommy for quite some time. It's not a threat, it's a promise. Have a safe flight little man," Mary warned before leaving the plane, hearing Payton curse a storm inside the plane.

As she stepped off she tripped a bit and groaned at the pain on her side, "What's wrong?"

She turned her head to look at the hispanic Marshal, "Got kicked on the ribs, pretty sure at least one of them is cracked. Tell Allison that I'll call her later."

"Will do, but do you need someone to come with you?" he asked concerned.

"Don't worry about it," she turned to walk to the car as she heard the plane start on. The noise was really loud and the vibration inside the hanger was hurting her ribs. Getting back into the car, she was glad that her ribs were the only ones that had gotten hurt.

She backed out as the plane began to drive out of the hanger, then she stayed until she saw the plane take off a few minutes later. She drove out of the airport strip and took out her cell phone, as much as she hated the hospitals, she knew that her lungs wouldn't take much longer and it would get more difficult to breathe.

Mary drove to the hospital grumbling the whole way, hoping that they were only hurt, but as soon as she walked into the ER she collapsed on the floor, gasping for air. She saw some nurses rush to her through her cloudy haze, felt her body roll to her right side, causing her to moan and reach for her ribs before she lost consciousness. _Marshall, I'm sorry, _was her last thought.

* * *

The police station was abuzz when Marshall Mann walked in late that afternoon, he had been called in because his witness, Lyle Myers had been arrested for being involved in a brawl at a nearby bar. There were several men at the station from that fight and all Marshall could do was focus on getting Lyle out and taking him back to the Sunshine building.

He walked around the front counter deeper into the department, he spot a friend and walked over, "Hey, I'm here to get Lyle Myers, I'm guessing he...was part of this...fight," he drawled as he pointed around the rest of the men sporting bruises.

The officer stood up and shook his hand, "Hey Marshall, I'll go see where he's at."

As Marshall stood watching around, observing the scene, he was reminded of how much he missed his partner, he winced at the remembered pain that she had caused when she went on vacation with Faber. He was so deep in thought that he almost missed it, he caught a glimpse of red through the corner of his eye as it came towards him, he turned to meet blue eyes smiling up at him. He took a step back when he looked down at her, he was taken aback at her cascading red locks as they fell down her back, pouty pink lips and her open expression. The total opposite of his partner. Then she opened her mouth.

"Hi! I'm Detective Abigail Chaffee, I'm new to the department," she extended her arm out and he took her hand, a firm grip.

He smiled down at her, "Uh...Hi, I'm Marshal Marshall Mann."

Her smile widen and she said, "It's great to meet you."

Even though her voice had started to grate his nerves, the fact that she didn't immediately make fun of his name and title had him thinking twice, "Great to meet you too."

As fast as she showed up, she swirled around and walked away, in measured steps. He smiled crookedly at her retreating form, he immediately thought of his mother, knew that his mother would approve of such a woman and decided right then and there that he would ask her out when he saw her again. At that moment, he knew if nothing else, that Abigail Chaffee would help him forget all about Mary Shannon.

* * *

**TBC**


	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks for the review!**

* * *

Mary awoke groggily a few hours later, she moaned and touched her right side, she could feel the bandage. She groaned when she tried to sit up as she held her ribs in, hissing, "Fuck."

"Hello Miss, I'm Rita, your nurse. Are you in any pain?" she asked looking down at her, the nurse was a heavy white woman with white hair and dark streaks on the side of her temples, eyes a light shade of blue that cause her to think of her partner.

Mary turned to her and frowned saying sarcastically, "No, I just like to groan in tickle delight."

"Ma'am, you don't have to get nasty with me," the older woman said snappishly.

"Then don't ask stupid questions, of course I'm in pain," Mary groused as she groaned again at her second attempt to sit up.

The nurse took pity of her and pushed the button on the bed to sit her up, "I'll call the doctor."

"Hold on, how long have I been out?" Mary asked curiously.

Rita looked down at her watch with a frown and replied, "About twenty four hours."

Mary groaned again and asked, "How long before I can leave?"

The woman was walking out the door when she stopped at the question, turned back to her and said, "I'll get the doctor."

Doctor Johnson made his appearance an hour after she had woken up, which made Mary a very grouchy patient. She had laid in bed for all of fifteen minutes, then she groaned through clenched teeth and got off the bed, went to the small 'closet' and found her dirty clothes in a plastic bag. Once she had shrugged back into her clothes through the pain, she sat on the visitor's chair and waited for the doctor.

"Finally! I'm ready to get out of here and you took your precious time coming around," Mary said crossly, holding her ribs as she got up slowly.

The doctor frowned and looked at his notes, "Ms...I'm sorry, we don't have any information about you. You're listed as Jane Doe."

"Well, the name's Mary Shannon, can I have my release papers?" she said in one painful breath.

"Ms. Shannon, do you know why you came into the hospital?" the doctor asked concerned.

She looked at him like he was crazy, "Of course I do, I drove myself here and even walked _into _the ER before collapsing like a Raggedy Ann doll."

"But do you know how you sustained the injury?" the doctor asked in concerned curiosity.

"Well it's my ribs, so I'm sure I would know. Some punk kicked me on the ribs when I wasn't looking," still pissed that she had gotten caught off guard.

"Don't you want to know the extent of your injury before leaving the hospital?" Doctor Johnson asked in mild surprise.

Mary sighed deeply in frustration, "Just tell me, the sooner I know the faster I can get the hell out of dodge."

"You have a cracked rib, the other ribs are just bruised, the cracked rib put enough pressure on the right lung, causing you to lose consciousness. There were no serious internal injuries, apart from the deep purple blotch you will have for a few weeks," the doctor briefed her on her injuries.

"And the cracked rib?" she asked with a raised eyebrow, as she felt the bandage.

"We set it back in place, but you'll just have to take it easy for 2 to 3 weeks, preferably 3 weeks, you're lucky we didn't have to intervene to set it back into place," he advised as he wrote on her chart.

"Well, where do I sign to get out of here?" she asked again, this time impatiently.

"We suggest you stay..."

"Nope, don't suggest...I'll sign an AMA release and all, but I need to get out of here, today," Mary said with her authoritative voice.

The doctor signed and nodded curtly at her, "Fine, I'll have the nurse bring you the release papers."

An hour later, she signed her release forms along with the AMA release and walked out of the hospital. Mary didn't let the nurse wheel her in the ridiculous wheelchair. As she got in her car, she spotted her cell phone on the space between the seats, she reached for her cell phone and turned it on. She had multiple missed calls, from Allison, still no sign of Marshall. She sighed sadly and turned the car on. _Maybe it's for the best, us together would just be a disaster ready to happen._

Mary finally made up her mind and dialed Allison, she picked up after the first ring, _"Mary?"_

"Yeah, how is he?" she went straight to the point.

_"Are you okay?"_ she sounded concerned, something that didn't sit well in Mary.

She shifted nervously, as if Allison could see her, "I'm fine, how's Payton? Did he get there okay?"

_"Yes, he's fine, a little pissed, but fine. Tell me, Marshal Mendez said that you looked in pain. What didn't you tell me?"_ Allison demanded.

Mary rolled her eyes and muttered, "Broken rib, I really don't want to talk about me. I'm going to head to Albuquerque now."

She could hear Allison sigh deeply, _"Look, I had to call Stan. I told him everything..."_

"What the hell! We had a mother humping agreement!" Mary was practically yelling into the phone, her ribs were killing her from the exertion. She was so pissed, she could've saved herself a lot of grief if she would've called Marshall, but she had promised, she muttered sarcastically, "Apparently people don't give a shit about promises."

_"Inspector Shannon, you watch how you speak to me, that's an order!" _Allison raised her voice as well, trying to make sure that Mary knew who she was speaking to.

But Mary wasn't having any of that, she snarled, "Oh, it's _Inspector_ Shannon now? But before I was just someone to do your dirty work? You know something _Ms_. Pearson...forget about it. I'll deal with Stan when I get to Albuquerque."

She hung up and groaned in frustration when the action hurt her ribs.

It took her two days to finally enter Albuquerque, NM city limits, she had to stop and rest a few times during the trip that should've only taken her the better part of one day. It was midafternoon and she drove herself straight home, praying that Jinx and Brandi were out of the house when she finally got there.

* * *

For the rest of the week she took it easy, taking advantage of the fact that she was still on vacation, angry that she couldn't get into her bikini without Jinx and Brandi questioning her about her swollen bruised ribs. She spent the days reading a book that didn't seem to have an end, since she kept falling asleep as soon as she started to read. The nights she went straight to bed early, grumbling about feeling like a grandma for going to bed earlier than Jinx. Dreaming about a faceless man with blue eyes that called to her, she ran towards him but she never seemed to catch up to him, reach him.

On her last vacation day, she pulled out her cell phone again and went through her voice messages, the first being from Mike Faber, she frowned when she heard his voice, "Kitten, I'm here in Cancun and you're no where in sight. Call me."

The second message was similar, "Kitten, it's me again. Faber, I guess you forgot to tell me about your change in plans. Call me."

She growled under her breath, "Jackass."

Mary was glad she had to help Allison, it had prevented her from seeing Faber in Cancun, in her train of thought after Marshall's speech, she could've done something stupid to forget. She still hadn't contacted Marshall because he hadn't called her to see how she was doing, which meant that Stan was keeping her adventure mum.

Sighing sadly, she thought back to that last day she saw him, the words he had said, "_I get that you don't like messy, but maybe messy is what you need. Maybe instead of just anyone, you should be looking for someone."_

She angrily threw her pillow across the room, she yelped at the pain that coursed through her right ribs, the pillow hit Brandi in the face as she opened the door of her bedroom, "OW! Damn it, Mare. Why'd you do that for?"

"Sorry Squish, it was aimed at the door, not you. What are you doing in here anyways?" she muttered in pain, Mary clenched her jaw as she held onto her ribs and looked at her sister.

"Peter is taking me out to dinner, come with us, _please_?" Brandi looked at her sister expectantly, not realizing the pain Mary had just caused herself when she threw the pillow.

Mary shook her head about to refuse the invitation when Brandi said, "He's paying!"

"Fine, but give me a few minutes," she waited until Brandi had closed the door before getting up with a strangled groan. She walked to the closet and pulled out a pair of her jeans and a sweatshirt, she stopped and yelled through the door, "Are we going someplace fancy?"

Brandi opened the door again a few seconds later, "You can dress casual. No, not a sweatshirt casual!"

"Great, get out," she threw the sweatshirt into the closet, pulling a long sleeve button up shirt that she usually used for court appearances.

After she managed to get herself dressed without hurting her ribs too much, she shrugged into a pair of flat shoes and walked out the door, snagging her jacket as she went.

* * *

"We recommend the red wine, Cabernet Sauvignon, for the Filet Mignon, sir," the waiter advised.

Marshall smiled and nodded, "Yes, I'll have that."

"What do you recommend for the shrimp pasta?" Abigail Chaffee asked excitedly as she sat next to Marshall.

The waiter smiled down at her and said, "For your pasta, we recommend a Pinot Grigio."

"Great, I'll have that please," she smiled at the waiter and turned back to Marshall, "Thanks again for dinner."

Marshall smiled over at her with nod, "Thanks for accepting my invitation."

"So, what does a Marshal do around here anyways? What branch of the Marshal Service are you in?" she asked curiously.

"Oh, we transport the prisoners from and to court, that's it," he said, hoping she wouldn't try to question it further.

She smiled at him and nodded, "Sounds interesting."

"It can be," he nodded with a shrug, Marshall was beginning to like the detective, but his heart still lay with another. He mentally shook his head and added with a shrug, "At times, I just take naps waiting for the prisoners."

Abigail saw a piece of hair fall onto his face and reached out to move it back into place, leaning closer to him with a hidden smile, "Let me get that for you."

* * *

"I'll have the steak, bring me a glass of beer with that," Mary ordered her dinner and sat back, observing the room for any suspicious activity. Some days, it seemed like her job was never ending, sighing softly as to not alarm her sister and brother-in-law.

Peter ordered for the both of them, making Mary roll her eyes at that, knowing that if someone ordered for her, she would shoot them on the ass, except for Marshall. _He always knows what I want, _she thought morosely. Looking back at the pair she asked, "So, what's the occasion?"

"I don't need an occasion to take two of my favorite ladies out to dinner," Peter said with a shrug.

Brandi laughed, "Mary's no lady!"

Mary bared her teeth at her sister and looked away, she turned to observe the other side of the room. She froze at what she saw, Marshall sitting with a redhead. The redhead was leaning towards him with a smile on her face as she moved a stubborn piece of hair from his face. Her heart clenched at the pain, she felt betrayed, replaced. Then a dark thought entered her brain, _Oh God, he was probably just giving me advise on finding a man and not sleeping with a random cowboy._

The smile he had given his date had her closing her eyes and turning away from the picture permanently etched in her mind. She shook her head and looked up startled when the waiter came by with her beer and the other's wine.

Dinner had tasted like cardboard, she tried to follow the couples conversation, but as soon as she swallowed the last piece of steak, she grumbled, "Thanks for dinner you two, but I have to get out of here."

"Mare? What's wrong?" Brandi tried to stand up, but Mary held her down with her hand on her shoulder.

Mary shook her head, "No, you stay and enjoy dessert with your boyfriend. I just want to go home, not feeling so well."

"Are you sure? We can just take you home, right Peter?" she offered looking at her boyfriend.

"No, I'll catch a cab, see you later. Thanks for dinner Peter," she stuffed her hand into her jacket, to hold her rib without giving herself up. _I'm so damn stupid._

* * *

**TBC**


	4. Chapter 4

By Monday morning, Mary woke up earlier than normal and walked into the office before Marshall. She wanted to speak to Stan before Marshall came in, no need to inform him of her extra-curriculum activity during what was supposed to be her vacation time.

She was in luck, when she walked into the office, Stan was in his office on the phone. He looked up and his eyebrows rose in surprise, she smiled feebly his way and walked to her desk. She had logged into her computer an hour before when Stan finally walked out of his office, hands in pockets, he stopped in front of her desk and rocked back onto the heels of his shoes.

"So, anything you have to tell me?" he asked with a stern look.

Mary didn't look up as she went through her emails, she shook her head nonchalantly, "No, I'm sure Pearson told you all you needed to know."

"Damn it, Mary! I'm your _Chief,_ you should've called me soon after you hung up with her. I shouldn't have to find out that one of my best inspectors, one that I thought was on some beach sunbathing, was on a personal special op. What the _hell_ am I supposed to think?" he pulled his hands from his pockets and were now resting on his hips as he glared down at her.

Without a care in the world, she turned her face towards him and shrugged, "You weren't supposed to think anything, but apparently she doesn't know how to keep her mouth shut. As far as you're concerned, I was on vacation."

"That's not the point and you know it!" he reprimanded as he rubbed his pate furiously.

Mary shrugged one shoulder and murmured, "Well, it happened...just...just don't tell Marshall."

"Why? Because he would be as pissed as I am? I'm not that surprised you didn't tell me, I'm more surprised that you didn't confide or have Marshall help you," he said with a resigned sigh.

Stan walked over to Marshall's desk and rearranged some things in frustration. He turned back to her and arched an eyebrow, "Why didn't you call Marshall?"

Mary leaned back with a grunt and ran the fingers from her left hand through her hair and growled, "I don't always do things with Marshall and I promised Pearson to keep my trap shut, and unlike her, I did." _Because I was running away from the feelings he evoked._

He frowned at the pain he heard in her voice and remembered something Allison had mentioned, "She also said you got hurt. What's the damage?"

Mary rolled her eyes and glared at him, "Look Stan, I'm fine. Nothing to worry about."

"What's...the...**_damage_**?" he enunciated as he demanded.

"God, you're...I have bruised ribs, ok?" she growled at him as she turned back to her computer with a strangled grunt at her quick terse movements.

"That doesn't sound like just bruised ribs..." he cut off when he heard the elevator doors open. They both saw Marshall step out, looking down at his cell phone and a grin plastered to his face.

Mary was the first to look away, knowing that the redhead had caused that grin. She went back to her computer and typed furiously on it and muttered to Stan as Marshall swiped his card, "Mum's the word."

He turned back to her and glared at her, "You're not..."

"No, now leave me alone," she groaned as she moved too fast yet again. _Damn it, Shannon, stop moving so damn fast._

Marshall looked at the pair glaring at each other, Stan had his hands on his hips looking down at her, his jaw tense and she glared up at him, shooting daggers at him with her green eyes, her face red as she grunted. He was equally surprised she was in before him. _What did I miss? Why was she in earlier than me? She must've needed to talk to Stan before he came in, which beg the question, what did I walk in to?_

"How's...it...going? What'd I miss?" he drawled slowly at them.

The glaring couple turn to glare at him, he raised his hands in defense, frowning at them, "Sorry, didn't mean to interrupt the...uh...staring contest." _Something's definitely up, but what?_

Mare stood up with a muffled moan, "Damn it, I'm going on witness visits!"

"No! You're going to sit your ass behind your desk until I say it's okay," he barked the demand as she walked out the door and into the elevator.

Marshall just stood there staring from one to the other, Mary had barely acknowledge him, which made his heart clench in pain. Remembering another time she had walked out without really giving him a reply to his messy speech. He looked back at Stan and asked, "What'd I miss?"

Stan turned back to the inspector and shook his head, "Nothing for you to worry about."

Marshall saw him walk away and go into his office. _Well, that was cryptic. Why exactly would I worry?_

Mary walked out of the Sunshine building holding onto her ribs as they complained at her quick jerky movements. She reached for her cell phone and called Stan, as soon as the call was connected she said, "Look, I'll be back in an hour, just needed to...I'm not going on witness visits...yet."

She hung up before he could say anything. Resting her head against the headrest she closed her eyes. _How am I supposed to work with him? It was hard enough seeing him on a date with the redhead, and to see him walk in with that stupid goofy grin on his face had been too painful. _She groaned in frustration and drove out of the parking lot, not really focused on anywhere in particular, just drove around Old Town.

* * *

About half an hour later, Marshall decided to poke the bear, he walked into Stan's office and asked, "So, what was that I walked in on?"

"I think I made myself perfectly clear Inspector, when I said not to worry about it," his eyes moved up to look at him, as he continued to write on his paperwork.

Marshall shrugged, "I know, but why was she so upset? And why is she on desk duty?"

Stan leaned back and rubbed his eyes, "Leave it alone Marshall. If you really want to know, talk to your partner."

"Yeah right, because Mary Shannon _loves _to share, fine don't tell me," he began to walk out, but turned by the threshold and shrugged, "I'll find out."

Stan nodded, knowing full well that he would find out, but not from him. _Damn it, Mary, he's your partner. You should've at least called him to help you. Will that blonde ever learn? _

Marshall went back to his desk and logged into his computer. He had a couple of threat assessment to start before his witness visits. It was another half hour before the blonde Marshal walked in, with her right hand on her jacket pocket as if holding something. He frowned at her and said, "Welcome back, partner!"

She didn't even chance a glance his way when she muttered, "Thanks."

"Mare?" he asked apprehensively.

"What?" she asked without looking at him or his general direction.

"Are you okay?" he was observing her and noticed that she looked thinner, dark circles under her eyes, then recalled her eyes, even shooting daggers at him when he came in, he saw the sadness behind them. Then frowned anew when he noticed that she wore a button up, instead of her usual tank top. _What happened to you partner? Is it too awkward to talk to me because of what I said before you left? I'm so stupid. Couldn't keep your mouth shut, huh, Marshall? You just **had **to tell her to **pick** you, to **choose** you, to want **messy** with you._

"I'm fine," she muttered as she sat behind her desk, facing away from him.

Marshall frowned and sat back on his chair, "How was your vacation?"

He saw her tense before she replied, "It was _sunny_."

"I'm sure the company was up to par?" he asked with a sneer.

Mary turned abruptly to glare at him, "What exactly is that supposed to mean?"

"The cowboy...our last conversation," he stated flatly looking away from her. _Come on, Mare, already forgot lover boy?_

She narrowed her eyes at him and looked back at her computer screen. _What cowboy? What the hell does he know? Damn it, don't remind me, _she thought in painful remembrance of his messy speech.

* * *

Two weeks later, Stan had cleared her from desk duty a week ago, they had gone back to almost what they used to be. Except the teasing and going out for drinks on Friday night, she didn't ask to tag along when he mentioned going out on Friday night. He didn't invite her over or to the bar for a drink. They had settled on being just partners, when it came to reading each other, it was still the same, when they tried for more, that's when they fell short. Both frustrated with their situation, but both too proud to say anything to the other. Something that was taking its toll on them.

It was on the second week when Albuquerque PD contacted Mary regarding one of her witnesses, they had walked into the police department and Marshall had fallen behind, she knew he had done it on purpose to catch up with his girlfriend. Mary had managed to find out as much as she could of the redhead and had been surprised to find her perfect for her partner. Something that didn't sit well with her, but she couldn't do much about that.

She went ahead, keeping an eye on her partner, as she reached Rodriguez. He was the officer that had called her to let her know that Andrew Cohen had been arrested for a B&E. "Hey Rodriguez, any chance I'll get out of this hell whole in a few minutes?"

Officer Rodriguez, a Puerto rican man with a porn 'stach turned back to look at her, "Inspector Shannon, I'm guessing you're here for the gringo?"

Mary grinned, she shrugged nonchalantly and nodded, "Yup, the gringo is with me."

"I'll go get him," he stalked off and she turned back to observe her partner.

Marshall stood looking down at Detective Chaffee and smiled at her, "Hey, are we still on for tonight?"

"Of course, I haven't been dancing in such a long time, I wouldn't miss it for the world," she chirped cheerily, he grinned at her and nodded.

Abigail took a step closer to him, her palm against his chest and said, "Who knows, tonight could be your lucky night."

Marshall blushed and looked around, he spot Mary looking oddly at him and his face flushed even darker, "I...uh...have to go, I'll pick you up at 7pm."

"I'll be ready," she grinned up at him before stepping back.

He didn't chance another look his partner's way, he saw the sadness lurking in her eyes. He had seen it throughout the time since she came back from her vacation, a vacation she still hadn't shared details about. _What the hell happened to you Mare? Why won't you share your vacation with me? _

Mary looked away, only guessing that the redhead had just propositioned to her partner. She shook her head as she rubbed the nape of her neck, she moved her right hand to her ribs and felt for the bruise still there, more blotchy than purple.

She turned and saw Rodriguez bringing Andrew with him, cuffs on wrists and she scowled at the man, "Seriously? B&E?"

It took an hour to process him out of Albuquerque PD, which pissed Mary off to no end, because she kept seeing the redhead walk back and forth from her desk to Marshall several times throughout the hour. When they finally released Andrew she drove them back to the Sunshine building, with a heavy heart. _He has every right to move on Shannon. You didn't even consider being with him for fear of losing him in the end. She's better for him, you would just finish destroying what little you still have left._

* * *

**TBC**


	5. Chapter 5

**Thanks for the reviews!**

* * *

"This is Mary," she answered her cell phone as she sat behind her desk, filling out paperwork.

_"Kitten, you never returned any of my calls,"_ the caller said morosely.

"Who the fuck is this? If this is a mother humping prank I'm going to track you down and shoot you on the ass!" she froze in surprise as she growled into the cell phone. _Who the hell calls people **kitten**? _

Marshall's head swung towards her at the threat, he smirked at the thought of Mary shooting someone on the ass. With one ear opened to her one-sided conversation he went back to filling out his paperwork. After bringing Andrew back to the office and Mary ripping him a new one, she had taken him home with plans to torture him later. Now, here he was, working on his paperwork so he could go home and get ready for his date with Detective Chaffee.

_"Kitten, it's me, Mike Faber," _the caller said hurriedly, his pride hurt that she hadn't recognized his voice.

"What the hell do you want?" she demanded as she stood up and walked away, opening the door to the balcony. Not wanting Marshall to hear her one sided conversation, she didn't want to give herself away.

Marshall stared shocked at her response to the caller, curious to know who had pissed her off. He shrugged his tense shoulders and continued on with his work. _Who pissed you off now Sunshine? _

_"Aww, come on, kitten..."_ he was cut off.

"Call me _Kitten_ one more time jackass, see what happens. Lose my number _Kitten!_" she sneered as she ended the call and sighed deeply. She walked back into the office, not seeing her partner she bumped into a distracted Marshall. He was on his cell phone with his coffee mug on his right hand. As they bumped into each other, the coffee spilled all over the front of her tank top, she had gradually moved back to her tank tops last week, when she didn't have to wear the bandage.

Now, with hot coffee spilled all over the front of her tank top, she pulled it free from her skin, revealing the dark blotchy remnants of the bruise. She was so preoccupied trying to keep the material from rubbing on her burnt flesh that she wasn't aware that Marshall would be able to see the blotchy bruised skin.

Marshall dropped his cell phone when he had bumped into her and began to apologize for the spilt coffee, "Oh, my God, Mare! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to...What the hell?!"

Mary pushed him away as she reached for her go bag, she stalked to the restroom with a scowl on her face. It took him a few seconds for him to get feeling back on his legs and he jogged to catch up to her before she covered what he saw.

As she opened the door to the bathroom, he pulled the door from her hand, "What the hell's wrong with you asshole? It's not enough that you just scorched me? Now you want to tear a limb off?"

She was now pulling her shirt out and down, trying to cover the mark he had seen. He reached down and grasped her wrist, pulling the wet cloth from her hand, she tried to move back but he held her wrist away from her body.

"Marshall, I'm warning you. Let the fuck go!" she growled into his face as she tried to twist her wrist away.

"NO!" he pulled the tank top up and he saw the ugly dark blotchy bruise, a bruise that must've been mostly black when the injury happened. He hunched down and inspected the area, "Is this what you and Stan have been keeping from me? Did that asshole do this to you?"

He looked up at her silence, she looked shocked at his question, "Who? What asshole are you talking about?"

"_Faber!_" he growled up at her, angry that she had made him say his name. _The cowboy you chose instead of my messy!_

She closed her eyes sadly and looked down at him, "Let...go." _I can't believe you thought I was with that douche bag, partner._

She pushed him when he didn't immediately let go, his precarious position caused him to lose balance and fall to his butt. He growled at her, but she had closed the door behind her, he heard the lock click in place.

Marshall stood up dusting his backside and stood leaning against the wall next to the bathroom door, concerned for her.

_Damn it, what the hell happened to you, Mare? Who caused you that pain? _he thought angrily. He was rightfully pissed, someone had hurt his partner and he hadn't been there to help her. _Help her from who or what? You don't even know what happened to her. What aren't you telling me? I know you're hiding something from me._

Mary walked out of the restroom and almost ran into Marshall again, "Marshall, you seriously need to get the hell out of my way."

"Who caused that injury?" he asked walking beside her, meeting her long strides.

She stopped, causing him to stop alongside her, "Drop it Marshall, if I wanted you to know I would've called you."

Mary walked back and sat behind her desk, pulling her paperwork back in front of her angrily. She looked down and started to fill out her forms, she refused to look over at him. She prayed that he wouldn't question the blotchy bruise on her ribs anymore, she just wanted to forget all about that damn op. _I should've just gone on to Cancun, I'm sure Allison could've found someone else to find her bratty son. _

She saw him staring at her, knew the questions were coming, then suddenly her cell phone went off again and she sent up a silent prayer. She pulled the cell phone out and looked at the LCD this time, it was Allison Pearson.

Mary couldn't believe her bad luck, she was just thinking about forgetting the op the older woman had sent her on and here she was calling her, "This is Mary."

_"Hello Inspector, how are you?"_

"I was actually doing just fine, until you called," she said in reproach.

_"Oh, well, I just wanted to check on you,"_ she said sounding sincere, Mary narrowed her eyes and turned her chair all the way around, away from Marshall's prying eyes and ears.

"I'm sure, what can I do for you?" she asked knowing that Allison didn't call just to find out her well-being.

There was silence then she said tersely, _"Inspector Shannon, I feel guilty that you got hurt while you were looking for my son."_

"Don't worry about it, I'm fine. If that was it, I have to let you go, paperwork and all," she drawled.

_"Okay, if you need anything don't hesitate to call," _she offered as they ended the call.

She slowly swirled her chair back to face her paperwork when she had to sit back, Marshall was leaning over her desk glaring at her, "Who was that?"

"How the hell is that any of your damn business?" she stood up and glared back at him, hands on hips.

Stan heard the raised voices and stepped out of his office, "What's going on here?"

Marshall turned to Stan and closed his eyes, he tried to figure out how to get the story from those two, he opened his eyes and looked at Stan, "How did Mary get hurt?"

Stan looked to Mary and she continued to glare at her partner, "Why don't you mind your own damn business? Do I ask you about your girlfriend?"

Marshall turned abruptly to her and frowned, "How do you know about her?"

Mary rolled her eyes and began to gather her paperwork, stuffing it in her drawer before drawing out her Glock and her badge. She reached down to her bag and growled, "It's not very hard to figure out jackass! Or have you forgotten that I'm a Marshal? I get _paid_ to pay attention!"

She walked out of the office, leaving both men with their jaws hanging open.

Stan was the first to break the silence when the elevator doors had been closed for the better part of two minutes, "You have a girlfriend?"

Marshall turned to his boss and blushed muttering, "She's not my girlfriend, we're just dating."

* * *

Mary walked into her house and straight to her bed, she was glad the house was empty. She lay in her bed and closed her eyes, she was so exhausted, trying to act like nothing had changed when in reality everything had been turned upside down. _Why can't we go back to being just best-friends, partners? Life was so much simpler._

She fell asleep immediately, dreaming of lost dreams, lost hopes, lost wishes. A whimper escaped her parted lips as a tear fell from the corner of her eye. The dreams she had started to have of the faceless man with blue eyes followed her through the lonely nights. He always called for her, she could never reach him. Always getting farther and farther away. She would wake up with tears in her eyes.

* * *

Marshall sat behind his desk again and tried to think of a way to figure out what had happened to his partner. He was curious to know who she had been on the phone with, turning back to his computer he ran logs on his partner's cell phone. _Why didn't I think about this before? Because you know when she finds out that you went behind her back to go through her logs, she's going to have your hide. Sometimes you can be so dense Marshall, _he scolded himself.

Before today, Mary had talked to Allison Pearson several times throughout her vacation days. He noted a few missed calls from Allison to Mary a few days leading to her return to the office. He frowned and his blood ran cold, _God, she's getting transferred. That's why she's been having a bad attitude with me since her return. She wants to leave, after I __**promised **__her I wouldn't leave her, she wants to leave __**me**__!_

He stood up, causing his chair to fall back and he rounded his desk, leaving the office and Stan with his mouth agape staring after him.

"Marshall! Where are you going?" he bellowed at Marshall as he walked into the elevator, ignoring the older man.

He drove furiously to Mary's house, running a few red lights to make better time, he was running out of time. He turned with tire squealing into her driveway and screeched to a halt. He jumped out of the truck and moved to her front door, he banged on the door several times.

Mary startled awake at the attack to her front door, she cursed loudly and got off her bed with a groan, the cracked rib complained. She stalked to her front door with her Glock in hand, she swung the door open and pointed her gun at the intruder. Mary was startled to see Marshall in her front door, "What the hell are you doing here? Shouldn't you be out romancing your girlfriend?"

"NO!" he stalked inside leaving her to close the door, she holstered her Glock on her lower back and stalked behind him.

"What are you doing here?" she demanded, arms crossed as she glared at him from across the living room.

"Are you getting transferred?" he questioned as he ran his fingers through his hair, leaving it in disarray, the stubborn piece of hair falling down into his face.

Her hand itched, she wanted to walk over to him and remove the stubborn hair away from his blue gaze, she looked away and frowned, "No."

"Then what business do you have with Allison?" he accused as if he caught her stealing from the cookie jar.

Mary rolled her eyes and flopped down on her couch, resting her head on the back and closing her eyes, "Seriously Marshall, leave it alone. There are things I keep to myself, she's one of them. Now drop it and go, I'm sure the cheerleader is waiting."

"Mare? What aren't you telling me?" he asked morosely, practically begging her to open up to him. "What is so important that you can't share with your best-friend?"

She opened her eyes to find him sitting across from her on the coffee table, she shrugged and said, "Trust me, you really don't want to know."

She stood up with a grunt and walked to the front door, she opened the door and looked in his general direction without really looking him in the eyes, "Time to go have fun."

"I'll cancel, we haven't spent any time together since you came back from your vacation. Where'd you say you went?" he prompted, he thought it was time for them to finally talk about her vacation. _Even if it means hearing about that asshole._

Mary leaned her forehead on the door and groaned, "Why can't you leave me alone?"

"Because I'm your best friend," he said with a grin. _I miss you!_

She stared at him for a minute, than closed her eyes again and pushed the door closed. _I miss you too!_

* * *

**TBC**


	6. Chapter 6

**Thanks for the reviews! Sorry for the long wait, couldn't get to my computer to post this.**

* * *

Mary closed the door and locked it before she walked towards the kitchen, "Beer?"

"Sure," Marshall saw her resigned expression before she turned away from him, it made his heart ache.

_God, Marshall, I can't tell you what you want to know. I just can't, _she thought with resignation as she walked to the kitchen to retrieve some beer for them.

She walked back with two beers, one on each hand, thrusting one at him as she walked by him and flopped down on the couch. He sat next to her and they both stared awkwardly at the television. She reached for the remote and she turned the TV on, channel surfing until his cell phone went off.

Marshall saw her close her eyes as she lowered her hand down onto the couch next to her, she pulled the beer bottle against her lips and took a deep gulp of it.

He looked down as he took the cell phone from his side, _Abigail_. He picked up, "This is Marshall."

"Hey, Marshall, I just wanted to let you know that I'm running late and probably won't be ready when you pick me up," she explained with her usual enthusiasm, always so forthright.

"Uh, about that. Can I take a rain check? I...have something very important to do," he said looking at Mary through the corner of his eye.

Mary looked at him with a scowl on her face and shook her head sadly at him; she stood up muttering, "Just go."

"Hey, Abigail...uh...I have to go. I'll call you later," he hung up without waiting for Abigail's response. "Mare, hold on."

"You should just call her back and go out and have fun," she moved around her living room, picking things up as she went. Things that didn't even belonged to her, but she needed to keep busy. _Go home or better yet, call your girlfriend back and leave me alone Marshall! _

Marshall watched her close him off, the walls seemed higher than when he first met her, he wasn't sure if he could climb over them, let alone tear them down anymore, something that was starting to become her MO towards him. He needed his best-friend back, but her vacation had made them both step back from each other. He wasn't sure if they could go back to what they had, not after he had literally tore his heart out of his own chest and drop it on her desk, only to have her walk away with a mumbled, _"I'm thinking."_

"Mare, put those things down. I came to spend time with my best-friend and that's what I'm going to do," he said frowning as he stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. Locking his blue gaze with her miserable green. _What is going on in that brain of yours? Stop pushing me away, Mare._

She sighed sadly, shrugging his hand off and dropped the things on a chair. Moved over to the end of the couch and sat back down, reaching for the remote she began to channel surf again, "Anything you want to watch?"

He watched her move around, dropping the things on a chair and flop down on the couch again, still avoiding him, and whatever he was there for. _Come on, Mare. Talk to me, better yet, yell if it makes you feel better._

Marshall sat on the opposite end of the couch and shrugged, "Whatever you feel like watching, but I really didn't come to watch TV."

She stopped channel surfing when she came across an action flick, reaching down for the beer she had set down by the couch, she took a long gulp. She could sense him staring at her, but she didn't want to talk, to him or anyone. _Why can't you see that I don't want to talk? Last time we had a damn talk, it didn't go so well. Damn it, Marshall! Go away!_

But she couldn't voice her thoughts, because as much as her brain wanted him gone, her heart yearns to keep him close. And that scared her beyond reasonable doubt, something that she was afraid to analyze. _What the hell's wrong with me? He's my partner, just my god-damn partner!_

She looked sideways at him, "What are you doing here? Why aren't you out with Detective Barbie?"

Marshall sighed and turned to her, "Because I want to spend time with you. Is that so hard to believe?"

She shrugged and turned back to the TV, bringing the beer back to her lips. It hadn't been this awkward between the partners since the first time they met. It seemed like his messy speech along with her 'vacation' had caused a breach in their relationship, something that neither knew how to fill, causing them both to stumble in the darkness of their emotional state.

"So, how was your…vacation?" he drawled his question. _Spare me, Mare, don't go into detail. I don't know if I could handle hearing about that FBI douche._

"How long have you known me?" she asked adamantly.

He looked over at her with eyebrows raised in surprise at her question, "A…pretty long…time."

"Then you know that if I wanted to share…you know…I don't want to talk about my _vacation_," she sneered in frustration, getting up and walking towards the kitchen again. She took out another two beers and walked back to the couch, putting his beer on the coffee table in front of him, opening hers and gulping half of it down.

"Why? Why won't you talk to me about your vacation?" he stubbornly asked, trying to plow down the walls she was trying to restore. _Is Faber too damn special to speak about? Did he cause that bruise? Just tell me, whatever it is, please Mare, tell me._

A silence took over their somber moods, they sat and watched the movie for a short time before Marshall turned his body towards her, folding his right leg under the other and tried again, "Mare? What happened to you on your vacation?"

Mary rolled her eyes, she knew he wouldn't let it go, she also knew that he had given her time to come to terms and tell him all about her _supposed _vacation. _Oh, partner, unlike Pearson, I keep my word. Even if I wanted to tell you, I made a promise that I can't break. Sorry Marshall._

"Marshall, seriously, drop it," she muttered tersely, grinding her teeth.

"NO! I'm not going to drop it, why can't you just tell me?" he jumped up off the couch and whirled around to face her. "What is so damn important that you can't tell me?"

She rolled her head back onto the couch and closed her eyes, sighing deeply, and then a thought crossed her mind. She opened her eyes, narrowed in suspicion, frowned and locked with his pleading blue, "What did you mean by what business I had with Allison? Did Stan say something?"

He reared back in surprise at how fast her facial expression went from sad to curiously angry. He shook his head to try to catch up to her thoughts, then it dawned on him, "What exactly does Stan have to do with your vacation?"

"Look, asshat, don't try to change the subject. How do you know about Allison?" she stood up, hands on hips and glared at him, her eyes widened as she realized how he would know, pointing an accusatory finger at him, "You ran logs on my cell phone."

It wasn't a question, she had stated the obvious, knew that the only possible way that Marshall would know about her contact with Allison, apart from Stan letting him know her extra-curriculum activity while on vacation, which she knew would be impossible - one of the many things she respected from the older man, he knew when to keep things mum - would mean that her partner had gone behind her back and ran her logs.

He shrugged nonchalantly, "You won't talk to me, Stan is keeping me in the dark, what else did you expect?"

She swirled around and stomped over to her front door, yanking it open, "I can't believe you would do that."

"Well, believe it Mare, as long as you keep whatever you're keeping from me, I'll keep digging. So, close that door, I'm not going anywhere until I get answers," he challenged her as he folded his arms across his chest, staring back at her.

Mary glared at him, "You think you're so damn smart, well I got news for you Mann, you won't get any answers from me!"

She walked away from him straight to her bedroom, bellowing, "Don't let the door hit your ass on the way out!"

He shook his head, walked to the front door and shut it before going back to the couch and flopped back down after he heard her slam her bedroom door shut. _I'll give you time, I have all the time in the world for your answers Mare._

* * *

"Argh! What is _wrong _with him?" she muttered as she slammed the door shut. She paced her bedroom, running her fingers through her tangled locks and waited to hear her front door close behind Marshall. _What the hell do you want from me? Isn't Nancy Drew keeping you busy enough to forget my damn sham of a vacation? _

As the time went by, she never heard the front door close, which meant that Marshall was still inside her home. She lay back on the bed and closed her eyes, trying to block everything out of her mind. She didn't want to think, analyze, figure out anything for the rest of the night. She just wanted the day to be over and for the weekend to begin, she had never been as happy to see the weekend arrive as much as she did at that moment.

Mary knew he was out there, most likely sitting on the spot he had abandoned a few minutes ago, drinking the beer she had put in front of him on the coffee table, and if she was a betting woman, he would be watching and enjoying the movie she had chosen, she pounded her bed in frustration.

She turned and crawled up into bed, to curl under her blankets, _hope you have a good night on my couch, partner._

She closed her eyes again and tried to go back to sleep, but it evaded her as she imagined Marshall sitting out in the living room. He was waiting for her to come out and continue their argument, but Mary didn't want to argue with him anymore. She just wanted him to go away and leave her alone in her lonely home. For the first time in her life she prayed for Jinx and Brandi to come home early, she knew that they would be her ticket to a Marshall-free night.

As if for once, God was on her side, she heard Brandi's giggles accompanied by Jinx's cackle.

She sent up a silent thank you to the skies and lay there, waiting for Marshall to give up and leave.

* * *

Marshall had sat and watched the action flick Mary had chosen and drank his beer, waiting her out. Knew that she would get tired of sitting in her room with nothing to do and come out, if only to kick him out again. _Come on Mare, I think you have more game than that._

It hadn't been long since Mary had slammed her bedroom door shut, when he heard giggling and cackling.

_Not now Jinx and Brandi, I need more time with my best-friend, _he thought as he heard them open and close the front door. He groaned inwardly and stood up as they walked into the living room.

They both yelped when they saw him standing there, he had caught them off guard.

"Marshall?" Jinx asked as she looked around for Mary, "Where's my sweet pea?"

"Uh, she's in her bedroom…" he started, before Brandi chimed in.

"Are you here to pick her up?" she asked, looking at him expectantly.

"No…" again he was interrupted, this time by Jinx.

"Then what are you doing out here alone? Why isn't my sweet pea out here?" she asked in exasperation.

Marshall blushed in frustration and shook his head, his hands on his hips and he walked out on the women. He couldn't take their questions anymore. So he did the next best thing, he walked to Mary's bedroom and walked in, leaving the other pair staring at him with mouth hanging open.

Mary lay in her bed, listening to Brandi and Jinx give Marshall the third degree, she chuckled as she could imagine Marshall blushing.

The door creaked opened and he closed it behind him, "Enough Mare, I came to spend time with you and you're holed up in your bedroom."

He looked around and inspected her bedroom, her clothes were falling out of the crammed hamper. The bathroom door was left ajar and her closet was opened wide, he noticed how neat it was, something that somewhat surprised him. There was a dresser across from her queen size wrought iron bed.

On top of the bed he came in contact with her cold green gaze, he had to shake his head from where it had been headed to. He could literally imagine himself using the wrought iron for leverage…the thoughts almost brought him to his knees. Blushing like a teenage schoolboy, he turned around and faced her bedroom door.

"What the hell Marshall? What are you doing in here?" she hissed at him, keeping her voice low. She didn't want Brandi or Jinx questioning her about her business regarding her partner.

"Mare, I…I thought we were best-friends and best-friend don't keep things from each other," he started uncertain, but he thought he had the upper hand at the end.

Mary growled at him and jumped out of bed, moving over to him and standing in front of him, hands crossed across her chest, enhancing her curves. He closed his eyes and inwardly groaned, afraid he had made a mistake walking into her personal space.

"So, best-friends don't keep things from each other, huh?" she asked with a sneer.

His eyes opened when he heard her voice, he tried for a smile, "Yeah."

She nodded tersely, "Yeah…huh…so, Nancy Drew? You told me about her? Because I don't recall that conversation."

Marshall stared down at her cold calculating green eyes and swallowed, he knew she was right, he shook his head sadly and drawled, "I…I guess we both haven't been acting like best-friends lately, but…can't we…I don't know," he walked around away from her and ran his fingers through his hair, much like she had when she walked into her bedroom.

She opened her bedroom door and pointed out the door, a sign for him to go. Once he stepped out, she followed behind him, aware that Brandi and Jinx were sitting in the living room, staring at them as she walked him to the front door.

He opened the door and turned back to look at her, glad that the wall next to the door blocked them from Brandi and Jinx stares, "Mare, I don't want to lose you."

She looked up at him and smiled feebly at him, "You won't, but there are things that even best-friends keep from each other. This is a conversation that's off limits, can you please understand that?"

He stared down at her and groaned in frustration before he nodded tersely at her, not meeting her gaze, walking away from her without a backward glance. _I'm sorry for lying, but as much as you want to keep me in the dark, I **will **find out what you're keeping from me._

Mary closed the door, much as she had done before, closing her eyes in resignation. _I'm sorry Marshall, but I have to keep you safe. I'd rather lose your friendship than to lose you. And I have a feeling this Allison situation hasn't ended._

* * *

**TBC**


	7. Chapter 7

**Thanks for the reviews! You guys are awesome, sorry for not posting regularly, life and all. Sucks, but what can we do? :)**

* * *

As she walked towards her bedroom Jinx was the first to break the silence, "So, what was _that _about?"

Brandi stared at Mary curiously and saw her frown, "Come on Mare, sharing means caring."

Mary stopped on the threshold of her bedroom and turned to the pair, sarcasm in full swing, "Sure, why don't I put on a pot of coffee, then we can all sit around the table and share." She rolled her eyes at the nerve of those two, "Since when do I share anything with you two?"

"Well, there's always a first time for everything," Brandi said with a snicker.

"Huh, same way you shared with me about Chuck and his shady business?" she sneered at the younger woman, "What are you doing here anyways? Aren't you shacking up with Peter now?"

Brandi's eyes filled with tears at the memory of her ex-boyfriend and his demise, making Jinx jump up and wrap her arms around her, "Do you always have to be so cruel?"

She rolled her eyes at them again, walking into her door muttering loud enough for them to hear before she slammed her bedroom door for the second time that night, "Yeah, it's a gift."

* * *

The weekend had found Mary in the Sunshine building catching up on her paperwork; she knew that Marshall wouldn't come into the building since he had finished his share of paperwork throughout the week.

On Sunday night, she came home from work and sat on a lounge chair, drinking the rest of the beer she had started to drink when Marshall had been there on Friday night.

Brandi and Jinx had stayed clear of her, she had heard them hurriedly leaving the house amid cooing and sniffling on Friday night and Jinx hadn't come back. Mary figured that she was staying clear of her with Brandi and Peter, something she was grateful for. She didn't want to talk to either woman; she just wanted to be left alone. The feeling in her gut, the one that told her that something was going to go south, which usually only worked when she was on a transport, was screaming at her.

Mary closed her eyes and rubbed her stomach, _No more fighting Marshall, can't you leave it alone? Nothing can be done anymore, game over._

* * *

By Monday morning, she still couldn't shake the feeling off, unsure of what to do, she continued to ignore it. _Damn, I hope no emergency comes up with any of the witnesses. The last thing I need is a transport with Marshall. The questions alone will have me jumping out of a moving vehicle._

Mary walked into the Sunshine building, swiping her card on the door to walk into the office. She noticed her partner already behind his desk, something that really didn't surprise her, he was always in early, going at it at his computer in full swing. She shrugged the uneasy feeling once more before squaring her shoulder for round two; she walked around her desk and sat behind it.

She was surprised that Marshall hadn't paid her any mind; he was so preoccupied that he didn't look up when she walked in. She rolled her eyes and turned to her computer, she thought he was ignoring her on purpose, which suited her just well. _Fine jackass, you want to play that way, I'm all for it. _

Stan walked into the office and noticed the partners hard at work, "Morning Inspectors!"

Marshall looked up startled; he shook his head to clear it, surprised that Mary was sitting behind her desk. He had been in deep thought, trying to figure out a way to find out what Mary had been up to during her vacation, so concentrated that he had missed her walking into the office. _Come on, Mann, you could've gotten caught! She would torture you for this one. You do **not **want to be in deeper water here._

He shook his head again and continued his search; he had already found her cancelled trip to Cancun, Mexico. He had been shocked to say the least. _Where'd Faber take you, Mare? Back to Denver? Is that where you were? Too ashamed to tell me? _He inwardly sighed at where his thoughts had strayed and thought, _maybe I should've left when I had a chance. I wouldn't be in this limbo if I had taken that security job. _

He pushed his chair back and walked around his desk, heading to the kitchenette and poured himself a cup of coffee. Turning back he leaned against the counter and observed his partner. She was looking at him wide eyed, before she caught him looking and then she scowled and turned back to her computer.

For the rest of the morning, they ignored each other while they worked on their paperwork, going full swing on their computers. Stan had gotten up a few times to make sure they were still in the office, since it was the very first time it had been quiet since Mary had come to work in the office to be partnered with Marshall. He sighed sadly and noticed how either Mary or Marshall would glance at the other and sigh regrettably. With that he came to the conclusion that they had gotten into a fight either during the weekend or Friday night before they went home from work.

"These two are going to give me brain damage," he muttered as he walked back behind his desk.

By 11a, Mary had finished most of her work and got up, she walked to Stan's office, hands on hips, she looked down at Stan and grimaced, "Hey Chief, I gotta check on the Davises, something about a neighbor giving them trouble."

"Alright, are you taking your partner?" he asked curiously.

Mary turned to look out the window and shook her head, "Nah, he's busy and the Davises are good people, I think I can handle them and take care of a nosy neighbor all on my own."

Stan leaned back against his chair and studied his inspector, "Okay, when will you be back?"

"I'll probably go to lunch and then come back afterwards," she shrugged in response.

He nodded and looked out his door, Marshall was looking busy, which Stan caught on. He knew that Marshall was curious to know what Mary had come into his office for.

"Fine, call if you need back-up," he pointed an accusatory finger at her with a glare.

She rolled her eyes at him, sarcasm in full swing, "Back-up? With the Davises? What? Do you know something I don't? Are they going to tie me down and torture me with, what, tickles?"

He rolled his eyes in return, waving her off and muttered, "Just go."

She chuckled and walked out of the office, her smile fading when she saw Marshall hard at work behind his computer, the keyboard clicking loud and fast. She sighed sadly and pulled her bag from the floor, opening the desk drawer, drawing her Glock and badge out. Once the badge was clipped and the Glock holstered she walked out of the office with a sideways glance towards her partner.

He didn't look up at her, even though he had felt her verdant gaze upon him several times during the morning. He just didn't want to argue with her anymore, he just wanted to figure out her whereabouts since she left on her vacation. _What are you hiding from me partner? I don't know if I can keep going without knowing. I need to know who caused you harm, caused you pain. If Faber caused it…_he couldn't finish the thought, it was too dark.

* * *

After an hour, she was driving away from the Davises house and on her way to lunch. It had gone without a hitch at the Davises, she was able to pacify the witness and his family. The neighbor was just a nosy old lady, with nothing to do but spy on her neighbors.

Mary drove to her favorite lunch spot, Larry's Diner, mainly because their Monday lunch special was a Philly cheese steak sandwich. On her drive there, she had thought of going through the drive thru, but as she pulled up, she noticed the long drive thru line. She shrugged with a mumbled, "Damn people, can't they bring lunch to work?"

The restaurant was a restored diner from the 70s, with the typical black and white tile that ran up along the counter that sat against the only solid wall, bay windows all around.

She sat in a booth enjoying her philly cheese steak sandwich, she looked out her window thoughtfully. She was thinking about her partner, how things had gone down south pretty fast between them because of a talk and a vacation. She didn't know how to go back to what they used to have, how to get back her best-friend. _I don't know what you want from me, who is this guy you envision me with? It wasn't you, why I thought you referred to you, I have no idea. But apparently I was wrong, since you have a girlfriend now. I don't want to hurt you by keeping things from you Marshall, yet, I feel like that's what I've done. I'm sorry, but I made a promise._

Marshall drove into Larry's Diner, he went looking for his partner, he needed answers and he wasn't going to let her go without them. He had come up from one obstacle to another, until he got tired of trying to figure it out and decided then and there that he would locate his partner and get his questions answered.

Mary shook her head to shake her somber mood, when she finally focused, she spotted two figures that seemed somewhat familiar. She frowned and squinted to make out their features, trying to figure out who they reminded her of.

She sat back, eyes wide in shock, "Shit! Shit…shit…shit."

Michael Hurst, aka Hurts, was holding a device and pointing to the dark man to take the right side of the diner, the man she had shot on the thigh, noticed him with a cane, limping next to Hurts.

She jumped up, pulling her cash out and dumping it over her food as she took off, muttering as she left the diner, "Damn it all to hell!"

Marshall saw her jump up out of the booth and dump her money on the table, he frowned when she took off running. _What the hell? Damn it Mare, you can't run away from me!_

When Marshall saw her run, he assumed it was because she had seen him drive into the parking lot, which disconcerted him. He didn't want Mary running from him, he turned his truck to drive around the diner and meet her on the other side, but luck was not on his side. His cell phone went off and he cursed under his breath, he pulled it out and it was Abigail.

"This is Marshall."

_"Hey Marshall, its Abigail. Are you busy?"_ her cheerful voice bothered him a bit, but he pushed it out of his mind. Pushing Mary right along with it, he needed a distraction from what had just happened with his partner.

"No, not busy at all," he murmured as he stopped his truck next to the building. Marshall saw it all unfold as Mary had jumped into her car and squealed out of the parking lot, he thought he should follow, frowned at what could've made her leave so hurriedly. _She must've gotten a call before I saw her, maybe a witness? What the hell's going on with her? I guess she wasn't running from me._

He could almost hear her grin spreading, _"What do you say about meeting me for lunch?"_

"Sure, where'd you like to meet?" he said looking down at his watch, he knew he had enough time to eat lunch with Abigail.

_"Mmm, why don't you choose?"_ she asked happily.

Marshall looked up then closed his eyes, with an internal sigh, "Meet me at Larry's Diner over by…"

_"I know where it's at, I'll see you in a bit,"_ she cut him off cheerily, happy that she would see him soon.

Mary had seen the dark man move towards the right side of the building and took flight, she was out the restaurant in record time, she could almost see Hurts walking towards the front door of the restaurant. She looked around and moved stealthily towards her car, as soon as she saw her car; she jumped in and took off. Not waiting to see what the pair was planning on doing, she donned her sun glasses and drove by Hurts, still holding the device on his left hand.

She figured he must've seen something on the device; he looked up and stared at her as she took off. She saw him stand there in surprise; he bellowed something at the dark man as soon as he cleared the building on the opposite side.

Mary frowned as she took off, she figured that whatever Hurts had on his hand must've been a tracking device, "Damn it!" she slapped the steering wheel as she reached for her cell phone.

What Marshall didn't see when she took off was Hurts and the dark man, he had automatically assumed that she had a witness emergency.

Mary made a few turns before looking down at her cell phone, speed dialing Stan, "Chief McQueen."

"Stan, I got a situation here," she muttered angrily.

"What? The Davises are torturing you with tickles?" he asked sarcastically as he rolled his eyes.

"Even better, remember my little extra-curriculum activity during my vacation?" she asked as she checked her rearview mirrors.

Stan was quiet for a few seconds, then sighed deeply, "Yeah, what about that? I thought you didn't want to discuss it?"

"Look, apparently that little _situation_ just showed up, I'm going to have to take a few days off," she growled as a few cars got in her way. She hopped into the highway and took off, "Need to figure out how to take care of it. Not sure when I'll be back. Please don't tell Marshall."

* * *

**TBC**


	8. Chapter 8

_"Look, apparently that little situation just showed up, I'm going to have to take a few days off," she growled as a few cars got in her way. She hopped into the highway and took off, "Need to figure out how to take care of it. Not sure when I'll be back. Please don't tell Marshall."_

"What do you mean, the little situation just showed up? What in hell did Pearson get you into?" he jumped up so fast his chair slammed back against the wall.

"Long story short, I don't know how much Pearson told you, but at the moment I must be getting tracked, no I don't know how or for how long, but the men I dealt with are here, in Albuquerque," she explained as she cut cars left and right, then she spot them, making her stomach clench, "Damn it!"

"What? Damn it, Mary, do you ever make anything easy? I know I should've drilled you about this," he scolded as he paced his office, waiting to see what happened.

"I'm being followed, they're hot on my tail Stan, hold on," she threw the cell phone on the seat next to her and un-holstered her Glock, just in case.

"Okay, do me a favor, find anything you can regarding Michael Hurst," she said quickly as she saw the car gaining on her, then she hung up without waiting for a reply, throwing the cell phone on the passenger seat again. She sped up and tried to lose the car following her, but she knew it wouldn't happen until she got rid of the tracking device.

"Michael Hurst?" Stan asked to confirm when he heard the click ending the car with his inspector, "Mary! Damn it!"

He sat behind his desk and logged into the system, typed in Michael's name and waited for the system to run his name.

He got a few hits, but the one thing that made his blood run cold were the people Michael Hurst was associated with. He was a small fish in the scheme of things, his known associates were known to torture, rape and kill. _What have you gotten yourself into Mary?_

She reached for her cell phone and called Pearson, a few rings later, _"Hello Inspector, didn't expect you to claim your favor back so soon."_

"Spare me, this is more like another favor you'll _owe_ me," she said heatedly.

There was silence from the other end of the cell phone and Mary growled, "Any day now!"

_"And what favor am I in debt for now?" _Pearsonasked with air of superiority.

Mary saw a clear opening for her to be able to lose the criminals, she slowed as much as she could without letting them think of her next move, "Hold on!"

She threw her cell phone on the passenger seat once again and when the other car was close to hers, she sped up and cut off a double semi, managing to get off the highway. She was glad that she was able to trick them like that, as she got off the exit ramp; she was able to spot them. Their car cleared the double semi, but it was late, she was already turning off to the right. _HA! Pulled a fast one on those assholes!_

She reached for her cell phone again and brought it to her ear with a muttered curse, "I need to speak to your son."

_"What do you want my son for?" _she speculated.

"Oh, maybe because Hurst and the man I shot are here in Albuquerque!" she roared into the phone, not caring at the moment that she could lose her job. But she knew that it was to the best of Allison's interest that Mary didn't lose her job.

There was a pregnant pause and Mary had to grit her teeth from keeping her words back, finally after an interminable silence, Allison spoke shakily, _"What is he doing there?"_

"I'm guessing the man I shot is here to extract his revenge, what else?" Mary explained trying not to show that she was starting to get a bit upset, but not for her own safety. She closed her eyes briefly and thought of Marshall. _Shit! Stan better not bring Marshall into this shit, I don't want him getting hurt because of my fault. Oh God, Brandi and Jinx._ "I need to know if your son left something in my car, because Hurst is tracking me with a tracking device."

_"I…what do you mean Michael Hurst is tracking you?" _she could hear Pearson moving paper around, she could hear the rustling.

"As of right now, I'm being followed by him and the man I injured back at the bar in New Orleans," she barked into the cell phone as she cut off a few cars. She knew she wouldn't be able to lose them, but she wasn't sure how long they had been following her. _Damn it, did they follow me home? The Sunshine building? _The last thought had her break out in a cold sweat. The last thing she wanted was Stan and Marshall hurt.

_"Inspector, are you **sure**_ _you saw him? Are you sure it was Michael Hurst?" _Pearsonasked tersely.

Mary groaned in frustration, "We are killing precious time here; you need to ask your son about any tracking device that he could've left in my person."

_"Alright, I'll call him at home and find out what he knows, can I contact you at this number?"_ she asked aggravated.

"Yeah, the sooner I know the faster I can get rid of those two," Mary said tolerantly.

She ended the call and threw her cell phone back onto the passenger seat, at moments like this, on any other occasion, she would've called Marshall. Not the danger behind the situation had her holding out on her partner. _I'm sorry Marshall, when you find out; you're going to be so pissed. _

She shrugged and looked around, if she were the goons, what would she do to track her? She knew she could evade all day, but eventually her car would need fuel. _Where are you, assholes?_

* * *

Marshall sat in a booth and waited for Abigail; he had parked and let Mary run from him. He really didn't want to imagine Mary running from him, but it all pointed to that precise explanation.

He looked up when the door announced the jingle above the door; she walked in with a broad grin, she walked straight towards him. He stood up as she approached, "Hey."

Her grin widened and she rested her hands upon his chest as she leaned up to kiss his cheek, he smiled down at her, wishing it were another's lips on his cheek, "Hey."

They sat across from one another and she merrily said, "I missed you."

He blushed and nodded, "Yeah, I know."

"So, you still owe me a night of dancing," she mock pouted at him as she tried to hide the grin

"Of course, why don't we reschedule for this Friday?" he asked as he called the waitress with a nod.

She smiled and nodded, "I'd really like that."

Her smile turned inquisitive, "I don't mean to pry, but you mentioned it was something important, anything I can help you with?"

"It was sort of personal," he hadn't thought she would be bold enough to question the reason for the cancelled outing.

"So, it's set then. Friday night dancing," he corroborated, trying to change the subject.

"Friday night dancing," she agreed with a hurried nod.

He inwardly sighed that he would have to take her out, when at the pressing moment all he could think about was Mary and her running. He didn't know if he should bother with running behind her anymore. After she took off with _Faber_ on vacation, he had given up on running behind her, yet here he sat with a lovely woman that was the total opposite of his partner and he couldn't stop thinking about her.

They ordered their meal and ate in silence as Marshall kept going back to what he had seen, he felt a nagging feeling at the pit of his stomach, but he blamed it on the fact that Mary had taken off as soon as he drove into the parking lot. As much as he wanted to imagine that it was because of a witness, he had a strong feeling it was something completely different, which brought him back to him being the reason why she took off. _What are you keeping from me? Maybe I should just confront you about **Faber**, maybe then you will own up to it._

"Are you okay?" Abigail asked concerned.

Marshall looked up and his blue gaze locked with hers, "I'm sorry, what was that?"

"I asked you if you were okay."

"Yeah, sure, I'm fine, why'd you ask?"

"Well, because you were frowning down at your food, was that not what you ordered?" she asked pointing at his philly cheese steak sandwich.

His eyes moved from hers to his food and he shook his head, "No, nothing's wrong with it. Just have a couple things on my mind."

"Anything I can help with?" she offered with her easy smile.

"No…no, this is something I have to take care of myself, but thanks for your concern," he appreciated the thought, but when it came to Mary, he had to deal with her all on his own.

"Okay then, how was your weekend?" she changed the subject, he was grateful for the change of conversation.

* * *

Mary drove aimlessly, trying to keep a distance from the goons. She thought back to the day she had taken Payton from Hurst and the dark man. She recalled driving into the bar's dark parking lot.

_It had already gotten dark and the parking lot had just one light close to the entrance. She had parked backwards onto the space and waited a bit to see if Hurst and Payton showed up, but after half an hour, she decided to brave the heat and jumped out of her car. Looking around she hadn't spotted anyone looking at her or her car._

She cursed lewdly when it came to her, as she continued to drive and watch for the goons, she reached into the glove compartment at the same time her cell phone went off.

Looking down at her phone still sitting on the passenger seat, she saw that it was Stan. She rolled her eyes and reached for it, "What do you got for me?"

"Are you sitting down?" he asked harshly.

"Ha…ha…ha...sure hit me," she mock laughed at her boss, before getting serious.

"Do you want the bad news or the worst news?" he asked through clenched teeth. She knew he was pissed and mostly likely gets worst from what she could detect in his voice.

"Whatever it is, use the band aid method," she advised. The sooner he spilled the beans the sooner she could think up a way to figure something out.

Stan groaned and cursed under his breath, "Mare, these people are not to be played with, what exactly did you do?"

"The less you know…"

"Cut the BS Mary, your life is in prominent danger at the moment, tell me everything," he advised irritably.

Mary groaned and was about to answer him, when she saw the goons careening towards her from the opposite side of the street.

* * *

**TBC**


	9. Chapter 9

**Thanks for the review! Made a little, maybe too small to notice change. **

* * *

The cell phone hit the floor when she dropped it as she hit the break, squealing to a quick rolling stop, she made an illegal U-turn and hit the accelerator. The black Charger hadn't slowed, continued on the pursuit.

"Mare! Hello?" Stan bellowed into the phone when he heard the thump. He paced back and forth in his office, running his hand over the top of his pate. He looked up when he heard the elevator doors open. Marshall. _Not now Inspector!_

He cursed under his breath and walked to his door, closing it; he knew that if Marshall saw the door closed he would respect his privacy. That was the type of person that he was and one of the many things that Stan was glad for, especially at the moment. He couldn't afford to have both inspectors on the run, not yet anyways.

Mary headed for the highway again, if she was going to go fast, it was better to have free access to the highway. She couldn't risk civilians out on the streets.

Once she hopped back onto the highway she looked down to grab the cell phone, only to find the passenger seat empty, it was on the floor, she cursed loudly this time, reaching down and trying to keep the car from swerving dangerously. "Shit!"

She reached down and picked it up, trying not to hit anyone as she drove like a madwoman, "Sorry about that Stan, but I definitely have a tracker on me. I'm going to have to lead them out of Albuquerque."

"Wait! Don't you dare hang up on me or you'll be confined to your desk for the better part of this year!" he bellowed through the phone, trying to get her attention. Wincing at the thought that his bellow would let his Senior Inspector in on what was going on with his partner.

"Fine, these people **_are_** gaining on me," she said through clenched teeth, she looked through her rearview mirror and tried to make them out in the car.

From what she could make while she cut cars and semis on the highway was that it was a black 1970's Dodge Charger, which she begged the question. Why are they not right behind her? If it was a powerful car, why were they trailing behind her, following her? _Damn, they are purposely following me to get me as far away from the city. They want to corral me! Shit, shit, shit…Are there more outside the city waiting on them? Me?_

"I was on my way out of town on the **_damn_** vacation you forced on me, Pearson called and asked for a favor. I really didn't want to do it, **_but_ **I thought having Pearson owing me would be worth the time. So, she changed my flight, I flew out to Indiana to meet up with her in person. Anyways, she asked me to locate her son, I literally drove-with a vehicle she provided-around the better part of the US of A, until I tracked him down in New Orleans. Shot an asshole-with Pearson's permission-got her kid back, end of story," she rambled as quickly as she could, not going into too much detail. She hated going against her promise, but at the moment her life along with Marshall and Stan's lives could be in jeopardy.

"And your ribs?" he asked harshly.

She sighed loud enough to sound annoyed, she didn't want her mentor to know that she had gotten caught off guard, "I got kicked"

"By the guy you shot?" he persisted.

"No"

"What is your next move?"

"I got to find the tracker, the only way they are tracking me is through my person, and I remembered taking away Pearson's kid his cell phone. I mean, I advised him to shut it off, which he did because I took it from him. But that's the only way they can track me, hold on," she threw the cell phone on the passenger seat again. Opening her glove compartment, she rummaged through it until she felt the cell phone she remembered throwing in there a few weeks when she found it in her bag. _Found it!_

When she finally managed to pull it out, she put it on her lap and tried to pry it open. _Damn it, come on, come on…_She looked up at the rearview mirror and saw them way closer than she was comfortable. She stepped onto the accelerator harder, making her Probe shake at the strain she was putting on it.

"Okay, I got it," she announced as she put her cell phone to her ear and held it with left shoulder, her right hand on the steering wheel, at the same time her left hand holding and trying to pry open the kid's cell phone open. She finally managed to pry it open and carefully took the battery out, there right on behind the battery, she found the tracing device. "Hey Stan, I found it."

"I'm guessing on the cell phone?" he questioned with a resigned sigh, she could almost picture him standing in his office, his hand on his waist as he tried to figure out a plan.

"Smaller than my pinky nail," she informed as she saw another chance to get off the highway without her tail. She immediately closed the chipped cell phone and put it between her thighs as she threw hers onto the dashboard. Taking the opportunity she pulled the stunt from before and they took the bait, this time they followed suit. She saw them get off the highway as she kept on going.

Mary smirked and swerved to a stop onto the shoulder, she saw them over the bridge as they hopped back onto the highway, as the entrance was right across from the exit. She put the car in reverse and stepped on it, turning to the exit as she cleared the divider.

"I lost the tail, but only for a few minutes. Look, I need to find a way to get you the chip, maybe you can run it and find out how long they tracked me. If they know what I do," she didn't finish in remorse, she could get transferred to another WITSEC office, or simply within the Marshal service. She closed her eyes at the thought of losing Marshall as a partner, she shook out of her reverie and sped away from the highway, trying to get a head on the two goons.

"Mare, where are you? Is there a store nearby?" he asked curiously as a thought entered his mind.

She looked around and saw a gas station with a store, "Yeah, there's a store on the gas station, why?"

He groaned in partial relief, "Do you think you have enough time to get off and find foil paper?"

Mary caught on as her brain recalled a fact Marshall had once spewed on a transfer, _Did you know that you can stop a chip trace with a simple piece of foil paper?_ "Damn, why couldn't I recall that fun fact."

She ended the call as she stopped right in front of the store and jumped out of her car with Glock holstered, she stepped into the store and looked at the attendant, she didn't want to waste any more time and asked, "Where's the foil paper?"

The pimply faced kid behind the counter looked up at her and his eyes widened in appreciation, partially confused, "Fo-foil pa-paper?"

"Yeah, the foil paper, where…is…it?" she annunciated slowly as she scowled at the kid.

He pointed to the second aisle and she ran towards it, taking the foil paper in hand, she walked by the kid thrusting her badge in his face as she ran out of the store.

She jumped back into her car and squealed out, getting a glimpse of the black Charger hot on her tail. She made a quick right as the car was coming down the street, traffic was on her side for once. The goons couldn't make an illegal U-turn because of the median on the middle of the street. That gave her time to use the foil paper and test the fact first hand.

Her cell phone went off and thinking it was Stan, she answered it, "Okay, I got the foil paper. We're about to test this fact."

"Foil paper? Fact? What are you talking about?" Pearson asked rapidly, not understand what the inspector was rambling about.

Mary pulled the cell phone away from her ear, like it had burned her, she looked at the LCD screen and saw Pearson's name on it, "Pearson, what did your kid have to say about this?"

She opened the foil paper box and pulled out a big piece of the foil paper, she held the cell phone with one ear, holding the steering with her forearms, as she held the box in one hand and ripped off the excess foil paper. Throwing the foil paper box to the floor of the passenger seat, she folded the paper a few times, waiting on Pearson to talk.

"He…he said that Hurst is just part of a bigger problem. That he was actually glad that you came to his _rescue_," she said in her son's defense. But Mary knew that Pearson didn't believe her son from the way she emphasized the word.

"Where are you?" she barked into the cell phone, she was beyond pissed at the kid. _That little chicken shit is going to find out what sort of torture I promised him._

There was silence as Mary took out the tiny chip from the cell phone and put it in the middle of the foil paper, she folded the foil paper over the chip a few times.

Finally, "I'm in DC, why?"

"Well, because I'm going to have to find my way around your neighborhood soon and find out exactly what your _son_ knows about this chip and the assholes tracing me," she spoke through clenched teeth, pissed that she had gotten caught up in this hell.

Pearson sighed heavily, "Fine, I'll send you my address as soon as you drive into DC."

Mary pulled her cell phone away from her ear and looked at the LCD again, the call had ended, "Witch!"

She looked around and drove aimlessly, trying to stay close to enough traffic, she hoped the goons would think twice before trying something against her. She saw a parking lot a few miles down and drove in, she parked her car opposite of the entrance. Getting off she ran over to the entrance and waited to see if the goons followed her or if the foil paper had indeed done its job.

* * *

Marshall was about to sit when he heard Stan's bellow, he frowned and thought to go and find out what was going on. But his office was closed which meant the Chief was most likely on a call. He smirked at the thought that he was yelling at someone besides Mary.

At the thought of his partner, he looked over at her desk and found it empty. He frowned again and sighed sadly as he sat behind his desk. After a few minutes, he decided to call her. He placed the call and it went straight to her voice mail, again he thought that she was probably with a witness, he ended the call and logged into his computer.

Soon after he began to fill out his paperwork and was looking down when he heard the Chief's door open, he looked up and frowned at Stan's agitated state, "Hey Chief, what's wrong?"

Marshall immediately thought it could be a new witness or possibly a breach of an old one, in full Marshal mode he stood up and started to think strategic moves.

"Nothing, don't worry about it." Stan didn't even look at him, walked by Marshall and pushed through the security doors, into the elevator.

He narrowed his eyes, stood staring after Stan and sighed deeply, frowning he sat back down and leaned back. He thought that had been strange, even for Stan. He reached for his cell phone and tried to call Mary again, but again it went to voice mail.

"Come on, Sunshine, pick up your cell," he murmured as he tried her number again, going to voice mail again, he decided to leave her a message, "Hey, I've been trying to call you, but it keeps going to voice mail. Call me."

He ended the call and ran his fingers through his hair, blowing air in frustration. He hadn't enjoyed lunch with the Detective, not after Mary had sped away from him. Something that left a bitter taste in his mouth, and an ache in the pit of his stomach.

Shaking his head he looked down onto his desk and saw his paperwork still waiting on him. He pulled up closer to his desk and began scribbling, trying to finish enough of the paperwork before he went to visit one of his witnesses.

* * *

**TBC**


	10. Chapter 10

**Thanks for the reviews! By the way, the fact about the foil paper is actually true. **

* * *

Mary had waited patiently an hour before she made her move, she briskly walked back to her car and hopped in, glad that the foil paper worked. She reached for her cell phone and saw she had a voice mail, she frowned and thought that she must've received it when she was on the phone with either Stan or Pearson, she pressed the voice mail icon and waited to hear the message. _"Hey, I've been trying to call you, but it keeps going to voice mail. Call me."_

With a heavy heart she leaned her head back against the seat and closed her eyes, _I can't call you, not right now. You'll hear it in my voice that something's wrong and try to come after me. I need you safe, Marshall._

She ended the call to her voice mail and pressed her speed dial two, connecting her to Stan, "Did you pay for the foil paper?"

Knowing her too well, she knew he was trying to lighten the mood, too much seems to have happened in such a really short time, "No, I was in a hurry."

She couldn't believe that it had only been four hours since she first saw Hurst walking on the diner's parking lot.

"Are you trying to find ways to get fired?" he asked impatiently, but understood the urgency to take the foil paper without taking the time to take out her money and pay, waiting for her change alone would've taken enough time for the people following her to catch up.

"No, I'm sure shooting your partner for no apparent reason, would be reason enough to get me the boot," she said sarcastically.

"So, I'm guessing it worked?" he asked.

Still on Marshal mode, she kept watch on the activities of the parking lot, "Well, it's been little over an hour since I put the chip in foil paper and parked in a three floor parking lot. So far, no bite."

Stan leaned back on his chair, feeling a little relieved that the foil paper had worked, looking out at the empty desk of his Senior Inspector, "Alright, how long before you get here?"

Mary closed her eyes again, knowing the hard part was about to begin and sighed, "I'm not."

"What do you mean, you're not?" he roared, "You must be out of your mind."

"Not necessarily, but I do need to find out more about these two goons," she explained.

Stan stood up and began to pace, shoulders hunched with a hand on his waist, "You need to explain that to me. What are you planning? How are you going to find _more_ about these people? This people are _dangerous! _What part of that don't you understand?"

Turning the car on, she got out of the space and kept her eyes open for the black Charger. She got out of parking lot and still she kept watch for any suspicious activity. Not seeing anything suspicious she rattled, "I'm going to drop the foiled chip someplace safe, and you need to get someone here as soon as possible to retrieve it."

"NO! You need to bring your little ass back into the office and bring the chip yourself, you hear?" he screeched, not aware that Marshall had just walked into the office.

Marshall heard the yelling again and decided this time he would find out what was going on, with Stan acting weird and Mary still not behind her desk, something that didn't go unnoticed by him when he walked into the office.

Stan turned, his face red and his pate sweaty, he looked at Marshall and turned away from him, hiding his eyes. He knew how insightful his Senior Inspector was and if he got a few seconds of his eyes, he would know something was amiss with his partner.

"I have to go," she muttered angrily into the cell phone, "Once I've located a safe place for the chip, I'll let you know."

Mary hung up and drove aimlessly further away from the highway, she pulled up the maps on her blackberry and searched for a good hiding spot in plain sight. From the look of it, she had been heading east for about an hour or so. She was in Moriarty, NM which suited her fine, far from her Marshall and Stan, suited her just fine.

Taking turns driving between small residential streets and major intersections, she decided the best way to get to DC was to fly out. She knew it would take her longer to get to ABQ International airport through the street, but she couldn't risk going back onto the highway. She drove east towards the I-25, thinking about plans to catch those goons and feeling stupid for falling prey because of a tiny chip.

Right before she reached the airport, she decided to make a last call to Stan to get the information he was trying to give her about the goons. She needed to know as much as she could about them, she wasn't afraid of them leaving Albuquerque. No, she knew the dark man would not easily forget that she had shot him, he wouldn't leave until he exact revenge against her.

Mary pressed speed dial two on her cell phone and heard it ring, _"Where are you?"_

* * *

Marshall stood just inside Stan's office with hands on waist, looking at the older man hang up the phone on the desk. He collapsed on the chair and frowned up at Marshall, still not meeting his eyes, "What are you doing in here?"

"Well, I heard the yelling earlier and I come in after a witness visit and find you yelling once again, you seemed…upset," Marshall drawled at the Chief.

"Upset is putting it mildly," Stan shook his head, "Nothing I can't take care of."

He nodded in agreement and then nodded towards his partner's desk, "Did Mary take off again, or did she never come back from lunch?"

Stan looked up at Marshall and frowned, "She's busy and won't be back today."

Frowning at his boss, he asked curiously, "Problem with a witness?"

Shaking his head the older man groused, "Personal problem."

"Personal problem? A Jinx and Brandi personal?" he questioned, confused and hurt that she hadn't called him to confide in him, he was accustomed to her calling him with family or personal problems.

"I don't know," he muttered looking at his computer, typing a few things.

"I called her and she still hasn't gotten back to me, must be a big personal problem," he mused his thoughts out loud, aware that his boss wouldn't look at him, which begged the question, where's Mary?

"Probably busy with her _personal _problem. Look, Marshall, I'm kind of in the middle of something here," he gestured towards his computer, looking at the inspector through the corner of his eye.

Marshall nodded, "Oh, okay, I…um…have paperwork to finish before going home."

"Sure, sure," the older man agreed as he walked out of his office, sighing in relief. He hated keeping Marshall in the dark about Mary's extra-curriculum activity during her supposed 'vacation', and now with Mary planning on running and trying to figure out things about the goons that followed her, on her own. He was definitely going to have a coronary with those two.

His phone went off and he looked over at Marshall, sitting behind his desk, he looked up as Stan picked up his extension, "Where are you?"

"It doesn't matter, tell me about these dangerous people?" she asked pensively, evading the question, trying to figure out how bad the people following her were.

Stan leaned back and kept a watchful eye on his Senior Inspector, knowing exactly where he was at all times, he didn't want to risk him finding out about Mary's problem, not a the moment.

"Like we agreed before, Hurst is small fish in the rather large ocean he's swimming in. A very well known associate of his, is a tall dark man, heavily muscled with a crew cut, thick eyebrows, narrow nose, possibly mixed. That one, you have to be careful, he is known for torture, the DA just haven't found enough evidence to back it up." he informed her sighing in frustration. "Name's Renegade Johnson, AKA 'The Butcher', that alone should give you a mental image."

Mary knew he was talking about the tall dark man from New Orleans, which she let him know, "Yeah, sounds like the guy in New Orleans, the one I shot."

"_He's_ the one you shot? Good God, of all the people...this is going to get worst then I thought," he tried to keep his voice as low as he could without giving Marshall enough to put two and two together.

"Yeah, I know…" she trailed off as she drove into the airport long term parking lot.

"There's a few others, but the most dangerous ones are still in prison long term, basically the man you shot has been smart enough not to leave any traces behind," Stan kept rubbing his pate furiously, he paused when he saw Marshall stand up, walking around his desk and going to the kitchenette.

Marshall walked to the kitchenette to be closer to Stan's office door, he was ashamed to admit he did it to be able to eavesdrop on Stan. He inwardly groaned and pulled his cell phone out, Mary still hadn't called him back.

He debated whether to call her again or not, but decided against it, pocketing his cell phone again as he drank his coffee, walking back to his desk. He chanced another glance towards her desk and shook his head. _Are Jinx and Brandi giving you trouble again? Why haven't you called me?_

Setting his pride aside he pulled his cell phone out again, pressing speed dial one, _"This is Mary, please leave your name and number."_

He sat back on his chair and looked over at Stan's office, he couldn't pinpoint what was going on, but he knew Stan wasn't acting like himself. He would swear that he was keeping something from him. _Did Mary tell you her personal problem?_

"Hey Mare, you still haven't called me. Stan told me that you had a personal problem? Look, just call me to let me know you're not speaking to me, if that's the case," he questioned and challenged her at the same time, ending the call, he threw his cell phone into his desk drawer. Marshall could only hope that she would give him a call back just to be mad at Stan for letting the cat out of the bag. She hated people talking about her.

Stan saw Marshall talking on his cell phone and asked her, "He's asking your whereabouts."

Mary didn't have to ask who, she automatically knew it was Marshall and she felt like a heel, they were partners and she was keeping something very important away from him. Something that she believed he should know, his life could be at risk.

She muttered angrily, "What do you suggest I do? Let him in on it? The shit is about to hit the fan, Stan."

"To tell you the truth, I can't really tell you what to do. This ball is in your court, you make the calls," he responded heatedly, "I still think you should bring the chip yourself and we can all put our heads together to figure it out."

"Come on, Stan, I can't just come back with the risk of them coming over there. For all we know, they tracked me over there and are waiting for me to come back. I can't do that to you or Marshall," she argued back.

Stan could understand her argument, but it could all be just speculation at the moment, "That begs the question, where are you?"

* * *

**TBC**


	11. Chapter 11

**Thanks for the review! Wow, this must really suck! lol no worries, the fact that all of you are reading is actually enough for me...I plan to finish the story, but life keeps interfering. Enjoy!**

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_"That begs the question, where are you?"_

Mary had put the phone on speaker while speaking to Stan and was online, going on her airline app and brought the ticket to DC, "Well, I'm about to board a plane," she knew she was stretching the truth – she still hadn't purchased the ticket – as she got out of her car, pocketed the foiled chip and opened the safe under her seat, pulling her passport out of the safe and locked it. Checking her pocket to make sure that her badge was still in it.

She circled her car and opened the trunk, pulling her carry-on out. Glad that she had checked it not that long ago.

"What?" he roared as he jumped up, he almost toppled his chair.

Marshall's head snapped up in surprise and got up, walking hurriedly into Stan's office, noting the older man rubbing his pate furiously, his face flushed red. He couldn't shake the fact that Stan was acting very unlike himself and with Mary not at the office, it made him suspicious.

Stan looked up to encounter Marshall's blue eyes staring at him in surprise, he couldn't stop talking to Mary, so he waved him out of his office as he said, "You can't…"

Marshall rolled his eyes before he frowned and walked away, giving the chief privacy. _What is going on? _

Mary cut him off, "Already done Stan. There's a plotted plant right off the parking lot exit, level A4, the foiled chip is in it. You might want to come by and pick it up, just be careful when you do. Look out for a black Charger, 70s. And _please _don't be too obvious."

She looked around to make sure no one was looking at her; glad she was still wearing her aviator glasses – the better to look around without looking suspicious – and putting her carry-on besides her, she sat on the edge of the planter, sneakily stuffing the foiled chip into the dirt. She waited a bit and then proceeded to walk to the airport entrance and located a kiosk to print out her boarding pass, "I'll call you as soon as I land, let me know if you find anything on the chip."

"Damn it, Mary! How long will you be gone? You're making him suspicious by not answering his calls," he growled as he paced his office and scratched his bald head. The frustration he felt that she was pulling a stunt like this, especially after the stunt she pulled while she had been on 'vacation'.

She inhaled deeply and exhaled loudly, "I don't know Stan; if he calls me I'll talk to him. But I won't promise to tell him anything, yet. Gotta go Chief."

Stan groaned and nodded, "Fine, but you and I both he's not going to be a happy camper when he finds out we were keeping something like this from him."

"I know, just…just take care of him," she hung up.

* * *

Stan almost slammed the phone down, but thought better and just set it down on its cradle when he saw Marshall approach his office again, "What can I do for you Inspector?"

Marshall scowled and grumbled, "Where's Mary?"

"She's not here; didn't I tell you she had a personal problem?" Stan asked in frustration.

"What sort of personal problem? And how come she didn't tell me? Since when did you two become so chummy?" Marshall demanded a bit hurt, Mary evading his questions was one thing, that was the way she dealt with things, but Stan was a different matter.

"Marshall…I don't know why she didn't tell you," he started but was cut off.

"What exactly is going on? Mary won't answer my calls and you…you keep evading my questions, where's my partner Stan?" Marshall stood glaring at his boss, hands on hips, tense shoulders squared, jaw clenched.

Stan shook his head and was about to try to answer one of his questions when his phone rang, he looked at Marshall and nodded him out as he answered, "This is Chief McQueen."

Marshall rolled his eyes and left his office, he took out his cell phone and dialed Mary once again, "This is Mary."

"Where are you? Why didn't you call me to let me know you had a personal problem?" he growled into his cell phone as he raked his fingers through his hair, he walked out onto the balcony and looked out into Albuquerque.

Mary rolled her eyes and answered only the second question, "I don't tell you everything Marshall, why do you keep calling me?"

"Because…we never not answer each other's calls," he explained heatedly. "No matter how angry we are with the other."

She walked to her departure gate and located an empty chair far from the rest of the people waiting, she collapse atop it and leaned back, she had a sense of déjà vu as she pinched the bridge of her nose and shook her head, "I know, it's just…I have something that I need to deal with."

"What something? Why can't you just tell me? I'll keep pestering you until you do, you know," he grumbled.

"It's…personal, just leave it at that," she knew that she was being vague, but she couldn't really tell Marshall what was going on, yet.

"Is it because of the fight we had? At your place?" he speculated.

She groaned in frustration, "Not everything's about you."

"Why'd you run from me, then?" he asked morosely as he sat on a lounge chair, resting his elbow on his knee as he held his cell phone.

"Run…from you?" she asked surprised at the question, she tried to think of when she might've ran. But she had a jumble of thought running through her brain and couldn't possibly pinpoint what her partner was asking.

"Yeah, you ran…from me," he drawled as he explained, "at the diner."

Mary sat up and looked around, making sure there wasn't a familiar face, she couldn't let her guard down for a second, "At the diner?" She wracked her brain until it hit her. _Oh my God! He had been there, when I ran out after spotting Hurst. Damn, I'm glad we were on the outs partner. _Then sheer terror ran cold through her blood, at the thought that if they had been together he could be in danger. _God, should I tell him? Why can't anything be easy?_

"Yes, the diner…look I know we got into an argument, but we don't run from each other," he said crossly.

"I know," she murmured.

Marshall leaned back and hung his head back against the chair, "Where are you? We should go out for a drink tonight."

His suggestion felt like a peace offering and she really wanted to take it, she wanted them to go back to their old selves as much as he did. But, "I can't tonight, rain check?"

"Are you not going to tell me where you're at? Maybe I can come over tonight?" he asked feeling suspicious again.

He could hear her exhale loudly before she said, "I'm not going to be home Marshall, I have something to…uh…do elsewhere."

He sat up and stood up, he began to pace, trying to decipher what she was trying to tell him, "Where exactly will you be then?"

"What are you my mother?" she growled angrily at him.

"No, I'm your best friend, you always tell me things, or at least you used to," he said resentfully.

Mary leaned forward, hanging her head in shame, but at the moment she just needed him safe. She sat up and looked around again before saying, "Marshall, it's not that I don't want to tell you…it's…I'm going to meet up with someone…"

Marshall stood up abruptly, he connected his dots and misunderstood her explanation, "Don't worry about it Mare, I get it. Meeting with lover boy and…you know what? Have fun!"

Mary pulled her cell phone from her ear and realized that Marshall had hung up the phone. She frowned and murmured, "Lover boy? Who the hell is that?"

She was about to call him back, but the prompt over the speaker, "We are now boarding…" her flight was called and she need to get far away from New Mexico. Away from Marshall, that thought alone had her heart lurching.

Marshall ended the call and had to refrain from throwing the phone airborne, which would only mean he would have to pay for a new one. _Faber, she's going to meet up with him. Damn it Marshall! Her going on vacation with him should've been your first clue; you need to move on Mann._

He made a call, _"Hey Marshall! What a pleasant surprise, what can I do you for Inspector?"_

He managed a strangled chuckle, "Hey Abigail, I think I owe you a night out of dancing, what do you say?"

There was silence, _"On a Monday night?"_

Marshall sighed remembering that it was indeed Monday, the fight with Mary felt like it had taken all week and it had only been a weekend along with Monday, "No, I meant…for the weekend."

_"Oh! In that case, count me in. I'll have my dancing shoes on the ready," _she cajoled, he could almost see her blue eyes smiling when he closed his eyes, but those eyes turned jade and her face turned into Mary's. His eyes flew open and groaned inwardly.

"Great, I'll see you later Abs," he ended the call and walked back into the office, to finish his paperwork.

Stan had watched Marshall the whole time, he suspected that he had finally spoken to Mary, which he would have to find out when he talked to her the next time.

* * *

**TBC**


	12. Chapter 12

Stan left the office, leaving a morose looking Marshall working on his paperwork. It seemed to him that ever since Mary had gone on her vacation, his Senior Inspector had drawn inwardly and a darker person had emerged.

He sighed and left him to his paperwork, walking out of the office and into the elevator. He was on his way to pick up the foiled chip that Mary had hidden on a potted plant. After speaking to the techie, someone from IS would wait until he came back from getting the chip, with extreme instructions to keep the chip inside the foil.

Once in the elevator he groaned in exasperation, with Mary gone and Marshall being kept in the dark, and to top it off, he had been on the phone with Michael Faber, he would be stopping by the following morning regarding a witness.

He rubbed the nape of his neck and moaned in pain, the tension was getting to him and it had only been one day. He hoped the finding on the chip would be good news, any more bad news and he was sure to have to contact DC.

The drive didn't take long, but he had to be careful and he had to watch his back. He looked at his watch and noted that it had been a little after an hour since Mary had hidden the chip. He drove around the airport, looking for the black charger, when he felt that it was safe to make a move he parked his truck near the exit Mary had given him. Still after he left his truck he pulled his cell phone up to his ear and had a one sided conversation, coming up to the potted plant he sat on the edge and continued his conversation. Looking around to make sure no one was amiss, he reached into the plant and searched for the chip, immediately locating it he stuffed it into his pocket nonchalantly.

Looked around one last time, before he put his cell phone into his other pocket and walked back into the parking structure, getting into his truck and taking off immediately, always aware of any vehicle that might follow.

* * *

Marshall had sensed Stan leave his office and look over at him, he hadn't wanted to meet his eyes. He knew that his boss wouldn't bother him when he looked busy with paperwork, knowing him well enough to leave him alone.

As soon as the elevator doors closed Marshall exhaled harshly and leaned back on his chair, he did not enjoy acting like a pouting child, but there were things that he was sure were being kept hidden from him. He frowned at the thought and shook his head, hoping that it wasn't the case.

Going back to his paperwork he tried to push all thoughts of Stan and Mary, and the possibility of Mary in the arms of another, out of his mind.

He would try to move forward with a relationship with Abigail, he just didn't want to keep trailing behind a running Mary.

* * *

The flight had taken a little over three hours, which was more than enough time in Mary's mind. She left the airport and located a car rental place, taking an airport shuttle she finally looked at the time. It was almost 11pm and she was still running on full adrenaline.

She would call Allison first thing in the morning, but first she needed to call Stan to let him know she had arrived. But Marshall's last words had her thoughts in jumbles, _lover boy? Who the hell's lover boy? _She groaned in frustration and walked over to the car rental kiosk, the last thing she needed was talk to a customer service rep.

With keys in hand she walked to her compact rental car and got in, she pulled out her cell phone and speed dialed Stan, "This is Chief McQueen."

"Hey Chief, did you get anything off the chip?" she went straight for the jugular, she was running on fumes and before she located her hotel, she wouldn't be able to wink let alone sleep without knowing something about the chip.

"IS is still looking into it, but so far, it doesn't look like they tracked you to the Sunshine building," he explained raggedly, leaning back in his office chair. He looked out into the empty office and sighed, Marshall had taken off soon after he came back with the chip. He had only murmured a low good night before leaving the office.

Mary relaxed against the car seat, still on alert even if she wasn't in Albuquerque because her gut wouldn't relax. She could sense something coming over the horizon and she could only hope it didn't get worst than bad.

"Well, that's a relief, but I'm willing to bet that those two won't leave Albuquerque until they get their hands on me," she murmured her thoughts out loud, she started forming a plan to catch them, using herself as bait when Stan interrupted her train of thought.

"You must really think I'm stupid, we won't use you as bait," he admonished.

She groaned and pouted saying aggressively, "If we can get the assholes, of course we can!"

"NO! And there won't be any arguing that point, since we are sure they haven't tracked you to the Sunshine building, I suggest you hop back into a plane straight back to Albuquerque," he scolded.

Mary continued her drive to the hotel and growled, "I can't! I need to finish this and in order to do that I need to speak to that little asshat."

"What exactly do you think you're going to get from Pearson's son? How much do you really believe he knows?" he challenged cautiously.

"I don't know, I'll find out tomorrow for sure, even if I have to beat it out of him," she rumbled angrily.

"And Marshall? I'm guessing you spoke to him?" he inquired expectantly.

She exhaled through her nose, "Yeah, we spoke, I didn't tell him much. At least not what I'm up to, kinda cut me off when I said I wouldn't be in town."

Again she thought back to the conversation, _Lover boy? Damn it, who the hell is lover boy? God, I hope Faber isn't the lover boy Doofus is talking about. If anything he would be more a lover boy than…_

She pulled over at the thought and shook her head, _What the hell's wrong with you Shannon? He's your **partner!**_

"Hmmm, figures…he had been moping around since he came back from lunch," he explained.

"I'm sure," she murmured as she considered the thoughts of her partner that had overcome her mind lately. She didn't want to think of her partner in that sense, but she couldn't refute that it seemed to happen more often. At least, more prominently since he fed her that messy argument.

She finally located her hotel and murmured, "I'm going to have to let you go now, call me if you get anything else."

"Will do. Take care of yourself Inspector, no more bruises or broken bones," he warned before ending the call.

* * *

The following morning Mary walked out of the restroom, combing her fingers through her wet locks. She heard her cell phone going off and vibrating on the bedside table, walking over she looked down to see who the caller was.

Allison Pearson.

"This is Mary," she answered curtly.

"Inspector, is it safe enough to assume that you made it in just fine last night? Should I still be expecting you today?" Pearson asked tersely.

"Your assumptions would be correct, no need for a fanfare on my account," she said sarcasm in full swing.

Pearson was quiet for a minute before stating, "I will email you my address."

"I'll sit here expectantly for it, don't take long, your son and I have a long conversation ahead of us," she advised abruptly before ending the call.

* * *

Marshall briskly walked into the office and sat behind his desk, looking over at his partner's desk. He knew that she wouldn't be in because of what she had told him the night before, but for some reason he had hoped that she would be in.

He was logging into his computer when he heard Stan talking to someone as he walked out of the conference room, he shook out of his reverie and looked up. His eyebrows rose high in surprise, "Faber?" He had to restrain himself from jumping over his desk and pounded the FBI agent's face in, the thought of Mary's bruise had him clenching his hands.

Mike Faber turned over to see the gangly Inspector and grimaced, "Marshal Marshall Mann, how have you been?"

"I've been better, what brings you here?" he asked brusquely, not minding his manners for once. He chanced a glance over at her partner's desk and tried not to frown. _Who the hell are you with Mare? If Faber is here, where are you?_

He felt confused and turned to Stan, "Will Ma-Inspector Shannon be joining us today?"

Stan rubbed his pate and shook his head, "No, Mary had a personal matter she needed to handle."

Faber looked between the men and asked, "H-how long will she be gone for?"

Stan frowned at the FBI agent and asked, "I'm not at liberty to divulge my inspector's personal agenda."

Marshall smirked as he inwardly praised Stan for not giving Faber any information regarding his partner, at that moment Stan's cell phone went off and he excused himself.

Faber caught Marshall's smirk and scowled, "McQueen seems like stickler for the rules."

"You can say that again. So…what brings you into town?" he drawled rudely.

"A witness…" he murmured before asking, "You wouldn't by any chance know when Mary will be back?"

"Patience is a virtue, I'm guessing your vacation wasn't long enough? What do you know about the bruise?" he asked dejectedly, keeping an eye on the FBI agent.

Faber's head snapped up and walked closer to Marshall's desk, he growled, "Is that your way of making fun of me? And what bruise?"

"Why would I make fun of you?" he questioned curiously, confused now.

The other man laughed harshly, "Oh please, don't play coy with me. I'm guessing Mary told you she stood me up, the jokes on her, I had a wonderful time with a rather nice younger _Chica."_

Marshall frowned and was about to ask what he meant by the fact that Mary had stood him up, but Stan walked out of his office and interrupted their discussion. _Mary never met up with Faber? Then what the hell happened to her? Where did she get the bruise? And what exactly is the personal problem she had to take off for._

"Marshall, I'm going to be out of the office for a few hours. Hold down the fort," he said before leading a frowning Faber away from Marshall's desk.

As soon as both men left the office he took out his cell phone and dialed Mary, after the appropriate rings it went to voice mail. He growled after the beep, "You have some explaining to do, _partner_."

* * *

**TBC**


	13. Chapter 13

**This was one of the most difficult chapters to write, I had to research interrogation techniques. I had to write and rewrite, hope it was up to par. **

* * *

Mary paced in Pearson's living room, in front of her son, Payton. He was sitting on a chair opposite the couch, in jeans and a wife beater, no shoes. He kept his gaze down, on the hands he kept rubbing up and down his jeans; she could tell he was nervous. Pearson had been excused, which to Mary's surprise she didn't argue and left her alone with her son.

She had moved the coffee table to the far side of the living room. She needed all the space she could get, to get ahold of her temper. She had arrived a half hour ago and every time she wanted to start grilling the kid, she would stop, run her fingers through her hair and take a few deep breaths – a technique her partner had taught her – her temper too on edge.

She stopped pacing and stood in front of him, when he finally looked up she scolded, "Do you realize how stupid the stunt you pulled was?"

Payton shook his head muttering, "I-I don't know what you're ta-talking about."

"Do you have _any _idea the type of people you got involved with? No, you don't, because you're so self-absorbed in your sob story! Taking off with Hurst..." she continued as if he hadn't spoken, then trailed off. Mary tried to reel in her anger, but it had overflowed and it was overwhelming. Her words triggering another time she had said those same words, to Brandi.

_"You could have gotten killed! What would happen then? How would I…" Mary gritted her teeth, and sighed at her younger sister, Brandi sat on a chair in their tiny kitchen, sobbing into her hands. The thought of losing her baby sister crippled her._

_"I know, I know," she hiccupped before looking up at her, "I'm so sorry Mary, I don't know why I'm such a screw-up!"_

_"Don't! Don't pull that God damn shitty excuse again, you're not a damn screw-up. Not only do I have to deal with our drunken mother, now I have to worry about you hanging out with some drunken pot heads! They were drinking and driving..." Mary walked away in resignation and turned before leaving her crying sister in the kitchen, she warned, "This is the last time I bail you out, next time, you'll just have to wait until they release you."_

_"But Mare…" Brandi started but Mary didn't stop, which caused the young woman to sob into her folded arms atop the small kitchen table._

She came back and shook her head to clear it from her reverie, her cell phone on her hip was vibrating and she looked down to see who it was. Marshall. She sighed and turned back to Payton, "I know you're afraid to talk right now but I really need you to remember anything that Hurst said or did while you were with him."

Mary decided to use another of Marshall's techniques, speaking to a person without yelling, something that was going to proof very difficult for her strong personality.

"I already told you I don't know what you're talking about," he muttered angrily.

"So you just happened to run away with that criminal and trek it down to New Orleans and not know what I'm talking about?" she didn't know how long she could hold in her temper.

"OK, fine, I didn't know Hurst was a criminal…," was his lame attempt of an explanation.

"Bullshit! You knew exactly what Hurst is," Mary cut him off. She began to pace, tried counting backwards, anything to control her anger.

"You don't know shit! You don't have to live with _her..." _Payton jumped out of the chair and tried to walk around her.

Mary swirled around, grabbed his arm and pinned him on the floor twisting his arm up, his hand almost touching his shoulder blades, "You think I'm stupid. So at the very least you know who they are and at the most you know exactly what Hurst was doing in New Orleans."

Payton struggled against her hold, but she put more pressure on his arm, managing a whimper out of the boy, then he cried, "I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING!"

"You would think I would've believed you the first time, try again and make it a good answer," she cautioned into his ear.

Just as fast as she had pushed him onto the floor, she got up and lifted him, her hand still twisting his up high on his back while she held onto his shoulder. His feet wriggled to find purchase on the carpet; he hadn't expected her to pick him up so fast. She walked him over to the couch and pushed him on it. He fell sprawled, hands outstretched out onto the couch and looked towards where Pearson had disappeared to, with a panic stricken face.

"Your mommy is not here, so…start from the beginning, how did you meet Hurst?" she sneered asking impatiently, glaring down at the teenager.

Payton now looked scared, his eyes wide, staring at her, the nerves had evaporated after Mary tackled him to the floor, with his face pressed to the carpeted floor, he had gone straight to scared, "I-I met him at school, h-he used to go to my school."

"Okay, go on," she encouraged with her hands on her hips.

"Um…h-he got my…uh…friend to…uh…sell his stuff," he explained stuttering.

"What type of _stuff?_," she questioned impatiently.

He stopped and stared at her in silence for a few seconds, "Pot…at least amongst the kids at school, h-he makes some of the kids sell pot, you know marijuana."

"And your friend got involved first?"

"Uh…yeah"

"You look like a pretty smart kid, why would you get involved with Hurst?" she asked incredulously, running her fingers through her hair.

Payton shrugged as he looked at her, blushing he murmured, "I don't know…I-I thought it was kinda cool."

Mary stopped and stared at his red cheeks and put two and two together with a heavy sigh, "So, you're telling me that hanging out with Hurst made you _look _cool? For a girl?"

He blushed furiously this time, his ears as red or if possible redder than his face, he shook his head to deny it, but she had caught the tell-tell sign. _Men, they see a pretty girl and they automatically want to be cool. Except…Marshall._

She didn't want to think about Marshall, because any thought of her partner would take her back to the words he had said before she went on vacation. She moved over to the chair he had vacated and sat down heavily, "What was Hurst doing in New Orleans? Why was he meeting up with that man at the bar?"

He looked away and shrugged again, "I don't know. After things here...look, I don't know what to tell you. Can I go now? I told you everything I know."

Mary stared at him and shook her head, "You haven't told me what I need to hear and until you do, you're gonna be here until I think I have all the information I need to find these asshole. So, if you have someplace to be, I'd start telling me all I need to know."

"But I don't know anything else!" he jumped up again, but sat right back down when Mary stood up threateningly with a murderous gleam in her eyes.

"You know more than you're letting on," she scorned.

He sat back and groaned in frustration, "But I don't know _anything_, I was just going with him to get away from here."

"From her?" she asked as she nodded towards the door in which Pearson had disappeared. Mary stared hard at the kid and it dawned on her, "Did Hurst know what your mom does for a living?"

He frowned and looked away, shaking his head.

"Did you tell your friend? The one that started selling Hurst _stuff?_" she asked immediately, trying to figure out why they would put a chip on the kid's cell phone. The wheels were turning in her head and the reasons why Hurst let Payton tag along were stacking up.

He looked up startled at her and slowly nodded, "Y-yeah, h-how is that relevant?"

"Damn it! Shit just got complicated. Pearson!" she walked over to the threshold and hollered for the other woman.

Pearson appeared almost suddenly, looking at her son, "What? What's wrong?"

Mary looked at her and stared to gauze her reaction, "Your son may have inadvertently gave you away to these people."

She looked at Mary in shock and shook her head, "I don't know what you mean."

Mary rolled her eyes and growled, "Hurst and his accomplice know what you do for a living."

She stared shockingly at Mary before turning to her son, "You told someone what I do?"

He shrugged, "I didn't know it was a secret."

"Oh, God, Payton, what were you thinking?" she muttered before walking over to the couch.

"Ahem, we have a bigger problem," Mary came to stand across from them, running her fingers through her hair, she blew out air through her nose before informing them, "They had a chip on his cell phone, which means…they weren't trying to find me, they were trying to find _him._"

Pearson stood up and brought her hands up to her hips, "What do you _mean, _they're trying to find him."

"You can't possibly be this dense," Mary scoffed with her signature eye roll, pulling her cell phone out she turned away from her and dialed.

"Who are you calling?" Pearson asked anxiously.

Mary didn't reply.

_"What do you have?"_ came the quick reply, a sign that Stan had been waiting for her call.

"Hey Chief, we might have a bigger problem," Mary muttered aggressively into the phone.

Stan groaned and asked apprehensively, _"How big?"_

"Let's just say, that Pearson's job is out in the wind, thanks to the brat," she informed.

"Hey!" protested Payton.

Mary spun around and faced the kid again, she pointed her finger menacingly, "Sit…down!"

He didn't object, sitting back on the couch, elbows on knees as he rested his head on his knuckles, with a pout on his lip.

_"I guess I don't have to ask you if you have things under control," _he murmured approval lacing his voice. _"What does Pearson say?"_

Mary shrugged and realized that Stan couldn't see and enlightened him, "Not much as of yet, but I needed you to know what was going on. The goons must've been surprised to find me instead of the kid."

Stan sat back on his chair and rocked it muttering a curse, _"Maybe you should come back and let her deal with this problem herself, I don't know what she was thinking putting you through this!"_

"Not really sure how long I'll have to stick around, but I have to deal with it too," she informed him.

_"What about Marshall? What do I tell him about your absence?"_ he questioned aggressively.

"I don't know," she sighed softly.

He groaned and looked up to see Marshall looking at him strangely, then he walked over to his door and asked, "Is that Mary?"

"Yes"

"Can I speak to her?" he asked ruggedly.

* * *

**TBC**


End file.
